Kerala man held for allegedly using cobra to kill wife

Kollam: In a chilling plot, a man allegedly killed his 25-year old wife by letting a cobra bite her in her sleep near here early this month with police cracking it following suspicions raised by her family as it was the second time she suffered a snake attack in three months.

Police said after investigations by the crime branch they arrested Sooraj, a private bank employee from Adoor in Pathanamthitta district, and a snake-catcher who supplied the cobra and a Russell's viper, both highly poisonous, on charges of killing the woman.

Parents of the woman had approached the police saying there was something suspicious about the death of their daughter on May 7 as barely a couple of months ago she had survived a snake bite. The couple were married for around two years and some financial angle was suspected behind the shocking killing, police said adding Sooraj had received 98 sovereigns of gold jewellery as dowry.

"One guy who provided the snakes and the husband who initially attempted to kill his wife with a poisonous snake and later succeeded in killing her in the same manner have been arrested," Kollam police chief K S Hari Sankar told mediapersons here on Sunday.

Police found digital evidence on the man's mobile phone using which he had been watching snake-related videos on YouTube since the last three months, apparently to get trained in handling them, he said.

Police said Sooraj bought Russell's viper from Suresh and on March 2 he attempted to kill his wife at their house in Adoor using thesnake.

The woman was hospitalised and discharged on April 22 after which she had returned to her parent's home in Anchal in Kollam district.

Sooraj once again contacted Suresh and purchased an Indian cobra and on May 6 night he had dropped it on his wife while she was sleeping.

"He watched the snake bite her twice. On May 7 morning, he got out of the room as usual and her mother found her unconscious," police said, quoting his interrogation.

She was declared dead on arrival at a hospital while the snake found in the room was later killed.

Police said the snake catcher had been involved in illegal trade of the reptiles and the forest department which has been informed will file a separate case.