Kerala: Man convicted of killing wife with cobra bite, he tried viper earlier

A 28-year-old man in Kerala has been convicted of murdering his wife by getting her bitten by a cobra in May last year.

The sensational murder took place in the Kollam district and the victim's husband is a snake handler and a wildlife expert.

Besides holding the husband -- Sooraj S Kumar -- guilty of murdering his wife Uthara, the court also convicted him for poisoning, destruction of evidence and also attempt to murder for his first try at killing Uthra by using a viper.

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Sooraj wanted to get rid of Uthara, take her money and gold and marry someone else, the police had said.

After the verdict was pronounced, State Police Chief Anil Kant told reporters that the case was "a shining example of how scientifically and professionally a case was investigated".

He also told reporters that the accused was nailed by using forensic medicine, analysis of animal DNA and cyber data as well as an experiment using a dummy and a cobra snake to ascertain how the crime was committed.

SP Harishanker said the convict's Youtube and search history revealed the extent of research he had carried out on snakes.

In fact, his search history revealed that when his wife was bitten by a viper in the first attempt at murder and was undergoing treatment in a hospital ICU, he was busy searching for a cobra snake while waiting outside the ward.