Case of snake bite death of lab assistant turns out to be patricide for insurance money: SP

Chennai, Dec 20 (PTI) What appeared to be a snake bite death of a government school lab assistant in neighbouring Thiruvallur district turned out to be a murder done by the man's sons and their friends to get Rs 3 crore insurance money, a police official said.

The inordinate delay in taking the man to the hospital after the snake bite, which ultimately cost him his life, betrayed his son's intentions, and the police took a cue from there and solved the case, Thiruvallur Superintendent of Police Vivekananda Shukla told PTI on Saturday.

The Pothatturpet police have registered a case of snake bite death on October 22 this year, after 56-year-old Ganesan, a lab assistant in the Government Girls Higher Secondary School, was declared dead in hospital after he was bitten by a snake at home. However, the investigation revealed it to be a cold-blooded murder, planned by his two sons, Mohanraj and Hariharan, Shukla said.

"Normally, whenever someone is bitten by a snake, people provide first aid. In this case, they (the sons) did not take their father to a health centre which was nearby. Instead, they were waiting for almost 45 minutes for an ambulance to arrive to take him to the government hospital. This gave rise to suspicion," Shukla told PTI.

The officer said that within 15-20 minutes after the hospital declared Ganesan's death, his sons called up the insurance company and asked them on how to claim the insurance amount. Doubt over this behaviour led the prosecution to probe the veracity of their claim that the snake bite was accidental, he added.

Shukla said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by DSP Jayashree analysed various documents related to the case, and the investigation found that the deceased Ganesan had about 11 insurance policies from multiple companies, of which four are on his life, assured to the tune of Rs 3 crore," he said.

The SIT did a meticulous investigation and nabbed the accused, who confessed to the crime, he said.

"Ganesan's two sons, along with their associates, committed this offence," Shukla said.

The police officer recalled that the six accused attempted to kill Ganesan in a similar fashion about 10 days earlier, too. But the father did not succumb to the snake bite injury then," he said.

In the second attempt, the six people used a highly venomous common krait snake and ensured that the snake bit the victim on the neck. After the snake bite, it was killed inside the house to show it as an accident, he said.

To a query, he said, all six people have been arrested on the charges of murder and are lodged in Puzhal Prison. PTI VIJ VIJ ADB