KOLLAM: In a new twist to the snakebite murder case, it is learnt that Sooraj killed his wife to claim her insurance policy. Police received a tip-off that months before he killed Uthra, Sooraj had got a life insurance policy in her name. The Crime Branch team subsequently initiated an investigation into this angle.Earlier, the police had confirmed that Sooraj confessed to killing Uthra for financial gains.
Meanwhile, as the custody period of accused Sooraj and Suresh Kumar ended on Saturday, the probe team approached the court to seek their custody for a few more days to collect more evidence. Following this, the court sent the accused to five more days’ police custody. Suresh Kumar was booked in the case for distributing the murder weapon — the cobra — to Sooraj.
"Even though Suresh informed the police he was unaware of Sooraj’s motive as he told him he required a snake to kill mice, we don’t believe it. It could have been a mistake, but when he handed over a poisonous snake to Sooraj a second time, he knew about the conspiracy,” said Crime Branch DSP A Ashokan, the investigating officer.
Meanwhile, the forest department, which has also booked a case against the duo for illegally possessing, selling and killing the reptile under Wild Life Protection Act, will also seek their custody.
Meanwhile, as part of evidence collection, the police recorded snake catcher Vava Suresh’s statement. Besides him, they also considered the opinion of other veterinary experts to clear the confusion prevailing in Sooraj’s statement. “Vava Suresh has informed us that Uthra might have been forcefully bitten by the snake,” said Ashokan.
They took his statement, as after the incident, he visited Uthra’s house and after knowing about the whole event, he expressed his doubts to her family. Analysing the first incident, he said a viper can never reach the second floor by itself.
Also, even if a cobra is thrown on somebody it will only try to escape, unless it is provoked by someone. In this case, if Uthra was sedated, then the accused might have used some metal to provoke the snake and bite her. If someone is forcefully bitten, it causes a deep injury.