Odisha Man Kills Wife, 2-Yr-Old Child by Releasing Snake; ‘Lured by Govt’s 8L Ex-gratia in Similar Cases’

A person was arrested on Thursday for allegedly killing his spouse and two-year-old daughter by releasing a cobra snake into their bed room in Odisha’s Ganjam.

The incident took place on October 7 within the Adheibara village below Ganjam’s Kabisuryanagar police limits.

The accused — recognized as 25-year-old Okay Ganesh Patra — had marital variations together with his spouse Okay Basanti Patra. Police investigation has revealed that it is likely to be the rationale behind the incident, an Indian Express report mentioned.

Ganjam SP Jagmohan Meena mentioned that the couple had been married since 2020 and had a child woman later. “Due to their marital strife, Basanti had filed a grievance in opposition to her husband below The Dowry Prohibition Act,” Meena famous. However, the Ganjam SP mentioned that the couple had once more been dwelling collectively for the final three months earlier than the incident.

Even after dwelling collectively, the accused reportedly deliberate on killing his spouse. Probably the marital strife and the temptation to gather Rs 8 lakh of ex-gratia quantity — Rs 4 lakh every — for snakebite victims could have led him to hatch this plan, a ToI report mentioned.

Ganesh had procured a SIM card in his father’s title on September 26 and used that quantity to name a number of snake charmers in his locality. Ganesh was attempting to accumulate a toxic snake for his plan.

According to the Ganjam SP, Ganesh had claimed that he wanted the snake for worshipping at a Lord Shiva temple.

A snake charmer — recognized as Basanta Acharya — rescue a cobra from somebody’s home and gave it to the accused in a plastic jar on October 6.

Ganesh took the snake home and hid it someplace. Investigations reveal that on the intervening evening of October 6 and seven, the accused slept within the entrance room of the home whereas his spouse and their two-year-old daughter had been sleeping within the center room.

At about 2 am, Ganesh shut the center room doorways and launched the cobra into their room with the intention of the snake biting his spouse.

Early on October 7, Ganesh raised a hue and cry within the locality which led to his neighbours — together with Basanti’s father — gathering on the spot. Following this, his spouse and daughter had been rushed to a close-by authorities hospital, the place they had been declared introduced lifeless.

Postmortem revealed that the reason for demise for each of them was snake chunk, a police officer mentioned.

While prima facie urged it to be case of snake chunk, the police later launched an investigation into the matter based mostly on Basanti’s father’s grievance. He accused Ganesh of killing his daughter.

Being the one witness, the snake charmer was not implicated within the case, sources mentioned, including that he was additionally unaware of Ganesh’s homicide plan.

“We are analyzing if any motion could be taken in opposition to him below forest legal guidelines,” a police officer was quoted as saying.

Police additionally mentioned that they arrested the accused after over a month of the incident “because of the delay in gathering proof”, including that he “confessed to the crime”.