KOLLAM: The court found Sooraj, accused in the Uthra murder case guilty. The Kollam VI additional sessions court found Sooraj guilty of killing Uthra with a snake. The verdict was pronounced by judge Manoj. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced day after tomorrow.

Sooraj was produced in the court. The offences were read to the accused before pronouncing the verdict. The court asked him if he has anything to say. Sooraj emotionally replied that he has nothing to say. Special public prosecutor G S Mohanraj requested the court to award him death sentence as it was a rarest of rare cases. The prosecution said the murder was strange, satanic and brutal and that the accused don’t deserve any mercy. The defendant argued that the case was not a murder. Uthra’s relatives were in the court to hear the verdict. A large crowd gathered in front of the court to hear the verdict in the gruesome murder case.

Uthra (25), a native of Anchal Eram, was bitten by a snake hired by her husband Sooraj with the intention of avoiding her after usurping her property. The cobra was bought from Suresh, a snake catcher.

Uthra was found dead in her bedroom after bitten by a cobra on May 7, 2020 at around 8 am. The investigation revealed that Sooraj gave her a juice laced with drug to Uthra on May 6th evening and then at around 11 pm, he used the cobra kept in the room to bite her. Uthra was earlier bitten by a viper at Sooraj’s house in Adoor. The murder using a cobra happened while Uthra was resting after the treatment.

Sooraj was not in good terms with Uthra’s family as he occasionally demanded money. The family grew suspicious when the snake bit her a second time. Uthra’s brother gave a statement to the Anchal police regarding the mystery of the death. But the investigation did not go well. Sooraj got angry when her parents demanded that the gold and money given to Uthra be transferred to the baby’s name.

Uthra’s family lodged a complaint with the police on May 21 alleging suspicion in the death. The next day they approached rural SP Harisankar with the complaint. The investigation conducted later found it as a murder. Sooraj was arrested on May 24 last year in the case.

Reacting to the court’s decision, state police chief Anil Kant said this was one of the rarest cases in which the accused has been found guilty on the basis of circumstantial evidence.

Hailing the police team investigated the case, he said it was one of the shining examples of how scientifically and professionally a murder case was investigated and detected.

“The case was a difficult one”, he told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

He said the investigation team worked very hard analysing forensic medicine, fibre data, DNA of the animal and other evidences to crack the case