Uthra murder case: Court to pronounce verdict on Monday

KOLLAM: The verdict in the Uthra murder case which shocked the conscience of Kerala will be announced today. The Kollam Sixth Additional Sessions Court will pronounce its verdict in a rare case that Uthra (22), a native of Anchal Eram, was killed by her husband Sooraj using a cobra with the intention of evading her property. The murder case also has the distinction of using a living being for murder. The trial was completed while Sooraj was in judicial custody.

On May 7, 2020, at around 8 am, Uthra was found dead in his bedroom after a cobra snakebite. The investigation revealed that Sooraj used a cobra snake kept in the room to force a bite on Uthra at around 11 pm after giving the drug to her at 6 pm. Earlier, Uthra was bitten by a snake at Sooraj's house in Adoor. The murder with the cobra took place while Uthra was resting after its treatment.

Sooraj was not in good terms with Uthra's family as he occasionally demanded money. That's why the family was suspicious when the snake bit Uthra for the second time. Uthra's brother told Anchal police about the mystery on the same day of murder. But the investigation did not go well. Sooraj was furious when it was demanded that the gold and money given to Uthra be transferred to the baby's name. On May 21, Uthra's family lodged a complaint with the Anchal police alleging suspicion in the death. The next day, Rural SP Harishankar was approached with a complaint. The case was handed over to the Crime Branch on the 24th. On the same day, the crime bench summoned Sooraj and questioned him. The statements were full of contradictions.

Links with Suresh was a turning point

A search of Sooraj's phone records revealed that he was was in constant contact with Chavarukavu Suresh, a snake catcher. He also searched on the internet about snakes. When Suresh was taken into custody, it was revealed that he had given the snake to Sooraj twice. Suresh said that when Sooraj called after the news of the incident, he threatened not to speak out and said he would be otherwise arrested. Sooraj was arrested on the 25th.

Dummy experiment

To prove that the snake was force to bite, the investigation team conducted a dummy experiment with cobra snakes and submitted it to the court as evidence. There are 87 witnesses, 288 documents and 40 pieces of evidence in the case. The prosecution wants Sooraj to be sentenced to death. The probe was led by Harishankar, a rural SP. A. Ashokan, who was a Crime Branch DySP, was the investigating officer. Adv. Mohanraj is the Special Prosecutor.