BERHAMPUR: Ganesh Patra could be forgiven for thinking he had pulled off the perfect murder.

But it is his carefully crafted weapon - in this case snakebite - that did him in.

Police on Thursday arrested the 25-year-old for allegedly killing his wife and two-year-old daughter by using a venomous king cobra as a murder weapon, over a month ago, at Adheigaon under Ganjam district's Kabisurya Nagar police station limits.Family dispute and probably the lure of collecting Rs 8 lakh in government compensation (Rs 4 lakh each) for snakebite victims may have driven him to allegedly kill his wife Basanti Patra (23) and daughter Debasmita (2), police said.

They were found dead on October 7 morning.

Patra was working in a private company outside the state, the police said.

Initially, the police registered an unnatural death case.

Later, a murder case was registered after Basanti's father, Khalli Patra, lodged a complaint against his son-in-law, alleging that he killed his daughter and granddaughter by using a venomous snake, Ganjam SP Jagmohan Meena said.

What raised the police's suspicion was the manner of deaths.

The snake bites were exactly on the same place (just above the ankle bone of the right leg) of the woman and her daughter.

The police took help of a snake expert who pointed out that it was unusual for the snake to be still in the same room after biting the two persons.

The expert said it was also unusual that the victims did not scream for help after being bitten.

The police are now probing whether they were sedated.

Patra claimed he had found the snake and beat it to death.

"We arrested the accused person after over a month of the incident due to the delay in gathering evidence.

He, however, confessed to the crime," the police claimed.Accused got new SIM to call snake handlers Police said Patra had got the snake from a handler in Polasara on October 6, telling him that he needs to perform a ritual at home."He procured a new SIM by submitting his father's documents and called many charmers with a request to procure a poisonous snake.

He procured one and brought the snake in a jar and released it in the room where his wife and daughter were sleeping.

He slept in a separate room," said Prabhat Sahoo, inspector in charge, Kabisurya Nagar police station.

"We are investigating the role of the snake handler," he said.

Police were investigating the involvement of others in the case.The SP described it as a "very rare crime".

In 2020, such an incident was reported in Kollam, Kerala, where the husband had released a poisonous snake in the bedroom of his wife.

On March 30, 2012, the police had arrested four persons, including the son of a widow, for administering the venom of a cobra to kill his 67-year-old mother in Berhampur.