Uthra murder case: Sooraj awarded 17 years of imprisonment, double life sentence and fine of Rs 5 lakh, not satisfied with punishment, says victim’s mother

KOLLAM: Sooraj found guilty in the murder case of his wife Uthra, the rarest of rare cases, has been awarded 17 years of imprisonment, double life sentence and a fine of Rs 5 lakh. The Kollam VI additional sessions court judge M Manoj pronounced the quantum of sentence to Sooraj.

After serving 17 years of imprisonment, he has to suffer double life sentence. Though the prosecution argued that he should be given death penalty, the court awarded double sentence, considering the age of the accused. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and attempted murder.

Meantime, Uthra's mother Manimekhala said they have not got justice. Not satisfied with the punishment and that they expected a capital punishment. Manimekhala criticized that such relaxations of the law create such criminals She said they would go forward with an appeal.

Sooraj was convicted under four sections- 302 (Punishment for murder), 307 (Attempt to murder), 328 (Causing hurt by means of poison, etc., with intent to commit an offence) and 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence of the offence).

Sooraj was not able to get out of the jail as a charge sheet was filed before completing 90 days of his arrest. The prosecution cross-examined 87 witnesses. 288 documents and 40 mainour were produced. The evidence from the dummy experiment was also conclusive.

The then crime branch DySP A Ashokan under the leadership of Kollam Rural SP R Hari Shankar investigated the case. The special prosecutor was advocate Mohanraj. The case is that Sooraj, husband of Uthra (25), daughter of Vijayasenan and Manimekhala of Anchal, killed her using a snake to extort her property. She was found dead at her own house on May 7 in 2020. She was given a juice laced with drug on May 6 and then used the snake to bite her at 11 pm. Uthra was first bitten by a viper at her husband’s house in Adoor. She died of a second snake bite (cobra) while she was asleep in her house in Anchal, while undergoing treatment for the first snakebite.