Meerut Court Sentences Woman, Lover To Death For Killing Husband And Staging Snakebite

A court in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, Friday handed down death sentences for murder and attempted to cover it up as a snake bite to a woman and her lover. The court deemed it to be one of the “rarest of rare” and sentenced both convicts to the death penalty.

On October 7, the court of Additional District Judge-12 had found Ravita and her neighbour Amardeep guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy. The prosecution said that the two strangled Ravita’s husband Amit Kashyap and put a snake under his body to mislead investigators.

Husband’s body discovered with snake under his chest

On April 12, 2025, Amit Kashyap, popularly known as ‘Mikky,’ was discovered dead at his residence in Akbarpur Sadat village. His family first thought that he was bitten by a snake when they found a snake under his body.

Meanwhile, injuries on Kashyap’s neck and scratch marks on Kashyap’s body raised doubts. He passed away eventually as a result of asphyxia caused by strangulation, rather than snake bite, was determined at his post-mortem examination.

The prosecution said Ravita and Amardeep had been in a relationship and planned to kill Kashyap. Investigators claimed that they killed the man with the snake while trying to make it look like an accidental death.

A container was used to capture and store the snake. The snakebite theory was put forward by the prosecution and was further contradicted by the venom sac being found to have been removed during the examination by snake charmers. Police also spoke with the man suspected of supplying the snake before they arrested the two who were charged.

The Call Records and Post Mortem Report is an important piece of evidence

Additional District Government Counsel Farzana said the post mortem report and mobile phone records helped a lot in building of the prosecution’s case.

Over four days after Kashyap’s death, Ravita spoke more than 70 times with Amardeep, she said. Additionally, investigators found over 500 calls between the two made phone number used by Amardeep to call Ravita.

The SIM card was registered in the name of Sonu of Jagriti Vihar. He said he didn’t use the number or know either of the convicts.

Prosecution tried to elicit more than 12 witnesses and police had filed a chargesheet that was over 500 pages long.

In his arguments before the court during the sentencing, District Government Counsel KK Chaubey requested that the death penalty should be given to both convicts on account of the planning involved in the murder, and the attempt to hide the crime.

He requested the court to keep in mind the motive, the way Kashyap had been killed and its motive was to destroy evidence. The prosecution had also cited the High Court and Supreme Court rulings in the case of Shabnam in support of its plea for capital punishment.

The lawyer for Kashyap’s family, Farzana and Balraj Singh, also wanted Ravita and Amardeep to be given the death penalty.

While pronouncing the sentence, the court referred to the traditional Hindu concept of a wife as her husband’s ardhangini, or equal and complementary half. It also invoked the story of Savitri, who is remembered in Hindu tradition for her efforts to save her husband’s life.

The court finally defined the killing as a ‘rarest of rare’ event and both the convicts were put to death.