A Meerut court on Friday sentenced a woman and her lover to death for strangling her husband and placing a snake beneath his body to pass off the murder as a snakebite death. It termed the case “rarest of rare”.
The court of Additional District Judge-12 had convicted Ravita and her neighbour, Amardeep, of murder and criminal conspiracy on October 7.
While pronouncing the sentence, the court described a wife as her husband’s “ardhangini”, or equal and complementary half in Hindu tradition. It also invoked Savitri, who did everything she could to save her husband’s life.
Amit Kashyap, also known as Mikky, was found dead at his house in Akbarpur Sadat village on April 12, 2025. His family initially suspected a snakebite after a snake was found trapped beneath his body.
However, injuries on his neck and scratch marks on his body raised suspicion. A post-mortem examination established that he had died of asphyxia due to strangulation.
According to the prosecution, Ravita and Amardeep were in a relationship and conspired to kill Kashyap. They strangled him and used the snake to conceal the murder and mislead investigators.
The snake was caught and kept in a container. The prosecution said snake charmers who examined it reported that its venom sac had been removed, ruling out its bite as the cause of death. Police also questioned the person who allegedly supplied the snake before arresting Ravita and Amardeep.
Police filed a chargesheet running to more than 500 pages, and the prosecution examined over a dozen witnesses.
Additional District Government Counsel Farzana said the post-mortem report and mobile phone records were key pieces of evidence. Ravita and Amardeep spoke more than 70 times over four days after Kashyap’s death, she said.
The prosecution said investigators traced more than 500 calls between the two through a number Amardeep used to contact Ravita. The SIM card was registered in the name of Sonu, a resident of Jagriti Vihar, who told the court that he neither used the number nor knew either convict.
During sentencing arguments, District Government Counsel KK Chaubey sought capital punishment, citing the planned killing and the attempt to destroy evidence.
He urged the court to consider the motive, the manner of the murder and the intentions of the convicts. The prosecution also cited the Shabnam murder case and High Court and Supreme Court judgments in support of its demand.
Farzana and Balraj Singh, the lawyer representing Kashyap’s family, also sought the death penalty for both.
