Uthra was given sleeping pills before allegedly being murdered with an Indian Cobra, a venomous snake — her husband Sooraj and the main accused in the case has confessed, investigating officials said on Thursday.
On May 7, the young woman from Kerala was found dead in her parents house in Anchal, Kollam, following which her husband Sooraj was arrested based on his in laws’ complaint. According to his confession, Sooraj, a native of Adoor in Pathanamthitta had purchased the sleeping pills from a local store there before traveling to Kollam.
“He narrated that he sedated her before the snake bite on the night of the murder. However, this remains a confession and can be proved once we get hold of the results of the chemical report,” Kollam Crime Branch DySP A Asokan told TNM.
This is the second time that the victim was bitten by a snake recently. Sooraj has first rented a viper and used it on her in March. Uthra has come to her parents house to recover, after being bitten by the viper. After his first attempt at murdering her failed, he bought a cobra in May.
The accused has secured both venomous snakes for Rs 10,000 from Suresh, a local snake enthusiast, who is also an accused in Uthra’s murder and has been arrested.
According to the DySP, Sooraj and Suresh met on March 24, amid the lockdown, where Sooraj exchanged the viper for the Indian Cobra to allegedly execute Uthra’s murder once again.
According to reports, the two had met on a street near a market which had been deserted due to the lockdown. The CCTV camera fixed near a shop was found to be not working.
Following her murder on May 7 morning, Uthra’s parents suspected Sooraj as they found it hard to believe that a snake had entered a closed air conditioned room and bitten their daughter. The victim had also spotted snakes around her house earlier, and is also believed to have been harassed by Sooraj for dowry.
As for the accused, the police have found that, months before Uthra’s murder, Sooraj had been following YouTube tutorial on dealing with venomous snakes. He also found the other accused - Suresh’s contact via a WhatsApp group he was a member of, which consisted of wildlife enthusiasts.
The couple were also facing issues in their marriage. “Once Uthra was asked by Sooraj to go to the staircase of their house and get his phone. When she went, she saw a huge snake there. She screamed and told him about it and he picked up the snake and threw it away,” DySP Asokan told TNM.