AN EVIL husband used a deadly snake to kill his wife as she slept in a bid to get away with murder.

       Suraj Kumar's plot was uncovered just months after his 25-year-old wife Uthra died at her family home in Kerala, India.

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       Suraj Kumar with his wife Uthra Credit: CNN 3

       Kumar attempted to kill his wife more than three times, prosecutors heard Credit: CNN

       Last May Uthra's post-mortem confirmed that she had been bitten by the highly venomous - Indian spectacled cobra.

       In India, snake bites are not uncommon with an average of 60,000 people dying every year in the country from them.

       However, Uthra's parents were unconvinced.

       After the post-mortem result was released on May 7, the family filed a complaint with the police.

       Just 16 days before, Uthra had left the hospital after a snake had bitten her - this would be the first time her husband would try to kill her.

       The couple married in 2018 after meeting through a matchmaking service.

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       "We wanted to find someone who would make her happy," Uthra's brother, Vishu told CNN.

       "She was a girl who was a little different. She had a learning disability. We wanted a man who could take care of her."

       Kumar, who worked as a bank clerk, came from a poor home - his dad worked as a rickshaw driver and his mum was a housewife.

       After one year of "uneventful" marriage and a newborn son later, Uthra's parents claimed that Kumar's family demanded them to pay for a new car, new household appliances and fees for an MBA course for Kumar's sister.

       The judge at the trial believed that Kumar married Uthra for "financial gain" after he received 720grams of gold, a sedan and 500,000 rupees (￡4,997) in cash.

       Uthra's dad told the court during Uthera's murder trial that he met the family's demands including paying Kumar a monthly fee to take care of his daughter.

       STRIKE AGAIN

       In February 2020, Kumar had bought a deadly Russell's viper snake from a handler and placed it on the staircase of his home in the hopes that it would bite Uthra.

       After the first failed attempt, he tried again on March 2.

       That night he mixed sedatives into a bowl of rice pudding putting and fed it to his wife.

       As she slept, Kumar forced the deadly snake to bite her before throwing it out of the home to get rid of the evidence.

       Uthra woke "screaming in pain" and was forced to speak 52 days in hospital.

       On April 22, she was released to the care of her family and was unable to walk.

       The 25-year-old had her legs bandaged after she had skin graft surgery - it was then that Kumar decided to strike again. This time with a cobra.

       Kumar fed his wife juice laced with sedatives and threw the poisonous cobra at her but this time it did not bite.

       However, Kumar grabbed the snake by the fangs and pushed it deep into his wife's arm twice - so it would look natural.

       After he was discovered by police, Kumar was given two life sentences - including murder and attempted murder.

       "Police and the prosecution have done their work well," her brother Vishu told CNN.

       "Despite being the rarest of rare cases, they were able to prove his guilt.

       "But (Kumar) was stoic and showed no remorse. That is shocking to us."

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       Kumar was handed down two life sentences Credit: CNN