Berhampur, Nov 23: A 25-year-old man in Odisha's Ganjam district has been arrested for allegedly killing his wife and two-year-old daughter by using a venomous snake to bite the victims, police said on Thursday.

The shocking incident had taken place on October 7 at Adheibara village under Kabisuryanagar police limits in the district.

The accused has been identified as K. Ganesh Patra. He used to work at a construction company in Himachal Pradesh.

According to sources, Ganesh came to his native village on a vacation four months ago and he did not return to the workplace. He later had suspicion about his wife’s fidelity. He allegedly hatched a plan to eliminate her and their daughter. He allegedly bought a cobra from a snake charmer and released it into the room where his wife and daughter were sleeping.

In the morning on October 7, Ganesh called his neighbours saying that a snake had entered his house and bitten the mother-daughter duo.

The mother and daughter were rushed to Hinjilicut government hospital where both were declared brought dead.

While, prima facie it appeared to be a snake bite death case, the deceased’s father lodged a complaint against his son-in-law, accusing him of killing his daughter and granddaughter.

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Based on the complaint, police started an investigation into the matter after registering a case of unnatural death.

"However, Basanti's father who also resides in the same village lodged a complaint with us on October 12 alleging that her daughter might have been killed by Ganesh through the snake. Meanwhile, we also received the post mortem report clearly indicating that the death of the mother-daughter duo had occurred during late October 6 night. This raised suspicion that how could the reptile remain in the same room till morning several hours after biting the duo," said Pravat Kumar Sahu, the Inspector In-charge of Kabisuryanagar police.

Police later initiated a fresh probe and began maintaining vigilance on Ganesh's movements.

"We questioned several snake charmers in the locality and were shocked to find that Ganesh had brought a venomous reptile from one of the snake charmers on the pretext of some special puja ritual at his residence on October 6.

"He later let the snake into the room where the mother-daughter duo was sleeping. We also came to know that Ganesh often picked up quarrels with his wife who had filed a case against him too," added Sahu.

The accused was on Thursday presented at the court that sent him to 14 days' judicial custody.

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