Odisha man kills wife, 2-year-old daughter by releasing cobra into bedroom: police

A police investigation has so far revealed marital discord between Ganesh and his wife, K Basanti Patra, over personal reasons might have led to the incident.

“Ganesh had married Basanti in 2020. They were also blessed with one daughter. Because of marital discord, Basanti had earlier lodged a complaint against her husband under The Dowry Prohibition Act. However, both of them had been staying together again for the last three months before the incident occurred,” said Ganjam SP Jagmohan Meena.

Despite living together, the accused had hatched a plan to kill his wife. On September 26, Ganesh had a SIM card issued in his father’s name. He used the SIM card to call several snake charmers in his locality to help him get a venomous snake.

“The accused claimed that he needed the snake for worship at a Lord Shiva temple,” said Meena.

On October 6, a snake charmer named Basanta Acharya rescued a cobra from a residential house and handed it over to the accused in a plastic jar.

According to police investigations, the accused took the snake home where he hid it. On the night of 6th and 7th October, Basanti and her two-year-old daughter slept in the middle room while the accused slept in the front room of the house.

About 2 am, the accused closed the doors to the middle room and released the snake into that room with the intention of having it bite his wife.

Early that morning, Ganesh started to create commotion in the locality, resulting in his neighbours and the complainant — the wife’s father — arriving at the spot. Though the mother and daughter were rushed to the nearest government hospital, they were declared dead on arrival.

A postmortem of both the deceased persons confirmed the two died as a result of snake bites, said a police officer involved in the investigation.

While prima facie it appeared to be a case of snake bite, the police launched a probe based on the wife’s father’s complaint. He has accused his son-in-law of killing his daughter.

Police sources said the snake charmer was not implicated in the case being the lone witness. He was also not aware of the accused’s plan to use the snake to kill his wife. “We are examining if any action can be taken against him under forest laws,” said a police officer.