A district and sessions court in Udupi acquitted a doctor, and six others, from the charge of murdering his wife by injecting snake venom.
Second Additional District and Sessions judge Dinesh Hegde acquitted 43-year-old doctor Suresh Prabhu, H.E. Harish, Niranjan Raj Aras, Basave Gowda, Paramesha, Manju alias S. Manjunath, and Dr. Ramachandra Aithal.
According to the chargesheet, Dr. Prabhu, an associate professor at Government Medical College, Hassan, left Hassan on January 6, 2010 morning along with his wife Bhagirathi, a nurse in the Hassan Medical College and Hospital, in their car. The two were on the way to Dr. Prabhu’s uncle’s house at Haikady via Agumbe and Hebri.
Near Tenkola, Belanje village, a tyre of the car turned flat. As he was changing the tyre in the night, Bhagirathi went by the roadside to answer nature’s call. Dr. Prabhu heard his wife scream and noticed that she had been bitten by a poisonous snake. After administering first-aid, he took Bhagirathi to a hospital in Hebri and then to Udupi District hospital, where she was declared dead.
Bhagirathi’s brother N.V. Kumar filed a complaint accusing Dr. Prabhu of murdering her by injecting snake venom. He then approached the then Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who appointed Ganesh M. Hedge as the investigating officer. All the six were arrested and charged with offenses punishable under Sections 302, 120 (B) and 201 of the Indian Penal Code.
The judge on November 3 acquitted all the six persons.
