INDIA – A man in India was arrested last week after he reportedly confessed to using a venomous snake to murder his wife and 2-year-old daughter while they slept, according to reports.
The murder suspect was identified as 25-year-old K Ganesh Patra. Investigators believe he committed the treacherous double homicide in early October in Adheigaon village, in Odisha’s Ganjam district, according to local news station INDIA TV.
Patra was reportedly engaged in an ongoing dispute with his wife of three years, 23-year-old K Basanti Patra, when he committed the crimes.
Law enforcement authorities said the murder suspect purchased a cobra from a local snake charmer, claiming he wanted it for religious purposes.
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Investigators believe sometime on the night of Oct. 6, Patra released the venomous snake into the room where Basanti and daughter Debasmita, 2, were asleep.
According to the Daily Mail, Patra discovered his wife and daughter’s lifeless bodies with snake bites the following morning.
The man apparently told neighbors what happened, and they subsequently killed the cobra and took his wife and toddler to a local hospital, where they were pronounced dead.
Patra’s father-in-law became suspicious of the story, and accused him of murdering his loved ones, particularly since the calculating killer left the cobra in the bedroom after the fatal bites occurred.
As a result, police officials further questioned Patra as well as snake charmers in the immediate area, the Western Journal reported.
“During interrogation, he [Patra] initially denied the allegation and later claimed that the snake might have entered the room on its own, but eventually confessed to committing the crime,” Superintendent of Police Jagmohan Meena said.
“The accused was arrested a month after the incident as there was some delay in gathering evidence against him,” Meena noted, while the double homicide remains under investigation.
