Uthra Murder: Dummy trial, expert evidence that led to conviction of husband Sooraj on circumstantial evidence

A Kerala Court on Wednesday sentenced one Sooraj to life imprisonment and also imposed fine of ₹5 lakh for the murder of his 25-year-old wife, Uthra for financial gains (State of Kerala v. Sooraj S Kumar)..The manner in which the ghastly deed was committed had generated significant media interest in the case.Sooraj had set upon his sedated, sleeping wife, a starving cobra to induce death by snakebite. Out of a handful of other cases involving murder by induced snakebite that have been reported in India, this is the first one that has led to conviction and that too in a case that was built primarily on circumstantial evidence..The prosecution, led by advocate G Mohanraj, adopted an approach of combining several expert testimonies, scientific tests and most notable of all, a one of a kind dummy test to prove the guilt of the accused..These methods were explained in detail in the judgment delivered by Additional Sessions Court, Kollam, presided by judge Manoj M. .The Sessions court had several questions to consider while passing the order convicting Sooraj.The initial questions considered by it were:Whether the death of Uthra was caused by Cobra envenomation?Whether the Cobra envenomation resulting in the death of Uthra was caused by inflicting homicidal, induced Cobra bites?As the evidence and legal aspects to be considered in these points overlapped, they were considered together. The Court itself noted in the order that, "In this case there is no direct evidence regarding the act which caused death of Uthra. The prosecution relies on circumstances and scientific evidence to prove that Uthra died due to Cobra envenomation"The evidence presented by the prosecution comprised of a now infamous dummy experiment and the testimony of several scientific experts. .With the permission of the Chief Wild Life Warden, for obtaining more clarity, a live demonstration with live snakes and dummy was conducted at Arippa Forest Training Institute. A video of the same was recorded by the police and produced before the court..1. The first demonstration was conducted using a live cobra after recreating the scene of Uthra’s room.A dummy having the size of Uthra was laid down on the cot and a fresh broiler chicken piece was tied on its hand. Thereafter, a cobra was released from the container on top of the dummy. However, the cobra did not make any attempt to bite the dummy and crawled down to the ground. Thereafter, they removed the arm of the dummy tied with the chicken piece and provoked the cobra. After several attempts and provocation, the cobra bit on the chicken piece tied to the arm of the dummy. Before inflicting the bite, the cobra displayed defensive mechanisms several times. Another natural bite on provocation of the cobra was obtained in the said chicken piece and the fang width of both bites were uniform at 1.7 cms. Thereafter, the Cobra was caught by its head and they induced two bites on the chicken piece and the fang width were found to be varying in larger dimensions at 2 and 2.4 cms. The fang width of the induced bites were more than the natural bite fang width..A second demonstration was also conducted this time using a Russell's Viper since Sooraj had earlier attempted to murder his wife using a viper but had been unsuccessful..2. Again the scene was recreated by using a dead rat tied to the leg of the dummy and a live Russell's Viper.Since, there was no thermal radiation, the Russell's Viper did not bite the dead rat. Thereafter, a rat which was alive was again tied to the leg of the dummy and the snake was released on top of it. When the rat moved the Russell's Viper bit on it. .The team of experts was constituted by the investigating officer.These experts included:Dr. Sasikala, the Head of Department of Forensic Medicine, Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram; Dr. Kishore Kumar, the Veterinary Surgeon of Animal Husbandry Department; Mavish Kumar, Herpetologist; and Muhammed Anwar, Assistant Conservator of Forests.Dr. Sasikala confirmed that the team of experts were of the opinion that the cobra bite noted in the post-mortem report of Uthra was not an accidental one and it was a homicidal bite for the following reasons:Two successive bites at a distance of 2 mm apart on the back of left forearm. Cobras are very frugal in spending their venom. Naturally after one bite they tend to evade the person;The distance between the fang marks of 2.3 and 2.8 cm in each bite when the normal fang width of a Cobra is 1 to 1.6 cms.It was unusual from having a Cobra bite within 15 days after being discharged from treatment for Viper bite. The chemical analysis of the Viscera had shown the presence of Cetrizine beyond the therapeutic dose..Dr. Kishore Kumar conducted necropsy on the exhumed snake carcass. He found that:The snake was of the species Naja Naja, also known as the Indian Spectacled Cobra;The death of the snake was from cardio pulmonary failure because of the injury below the hood;On examination it was an adult of approximately 152 cm long; The lack of food remnants in the coelomic cavity was suggestive of starvation for a long time, may be from captivity;The skull of the snakes is made up of movable joints and when pressure is applied, the upper jaws where the fangs are found would expand. Therefore, in the case of induced snake bite the fang width would be larger than the natural bite fang width..Mavish Kumar concurred with the other experts in the team and raised the following points:A cobra can raise only one-third of its height and the dead cobra in this case had a length of 152 cm.The window of the room was at a height of 62 cms from the foundation so the snake involved in this case could not enter the house;Uthra’s room had the smell of kerosene and phenol which are snake repellants. .The team of experts also analysed the incident when a Russell's Viper was induced to bite Uthra and reported the following findings.The bite marks on the leg of Uthra were vertical which was inconsistent with the natural horizontal bite mark of a Russell's Viper on the lower portion of the leg;The locality was marshy land and it was not conducive for habitation of Russell's Vipers which are usually found in dry areas; Since the Russell's Viper is non arboreal, it was not possible for it to naturally climb to the landing in the staircase. On the basis of these circumstances, among others, the team was convinced that the Russell's Viper was deliberately brought to the first floor of the residence of the accused and bite was induced while Uthra was sleeping..Jeena Badhar,the doctor who examined the corpse of Uthra and confirmed her death, submitted that when she was going to the observation room through the passage, she heard Sooraj saying there was a bite mark on her hand;Shafeeca who was working as Scientific Officer, DCB, Kollam City testified that she visited the residence of deceased Uthra and found a tablet strip with eight empty pockets and two tablets which were later confirmed to be Monty LC tablets and a tablet strip containing 20 Okacet tablets;Dr. Ragesh. R, who was working as Medical Officer in Department of Forensic Medicine, Govt. Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, conducted post-mortem examination of the dead body of Uthra. Based on chemical report, the cause of death was death due to Cobra envenomation. Presence of Cetirizine at 0.542/mg/dl was also detected in blood which is a non therapeutic level of Cetirizine. The cumulative effect of all these circumstances would make accidental snake bite improbable;Dr. Asha. S, the Head of Department of Pharmacology, Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram testified that a toxic dose of Cetirizine, as was found in Uthra, will produce central nervous system depression which lead to sedation, reduction in muscle power, reduced response to stimulus etc.Vava Suresh, a man engaged in rescuing snakes which enter human habitations for 30 years and has been bitten three times by venomous Russell's Viper and 10 times by Cobra, causing critical condition opined that the bites of Russell's Vipers and Cobras cause excruciating pain and would wake a sleeping person. .The Court held that the testimony of these witnesses fell in the category of expert evidence as defined by the Indian Evidence Act and the Supreme Court in a catena of decisions. Upon considering these testimonies, viewing the dummy experiments and referring to texts on the subject, the Court stated that "the prosecution has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the Cobra envenomation sustained by Uthra, which caused her death was due to infliction of induced homicidal Cobra bites."Sooraj was accordingly found guilty for offences under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to commit murder), 328 (causing hurt by poison) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code..[Read Judgment]