MEERUT, April 17 -- A woman and her friend who strangled her husband in his sleep and then released a snake on the bed to stage it as snakebite death were arrested in western Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district on Thursday, police said.

The deceased, Amit Kashyap alias Mikki, was found dead with multiple snakebites on his bed on Sunday morning. A live viper was recovered from the room.

"However, the autopsy report revealed that Amit had died of asphyxiation, not envenomation. This finding prompted a police investigation, which eventually led to the arrest of Ravita and her lover, Amardeep," senior superintendent of police Meerut Vipin Tada said.

Tracing the possible sequence of events, superintendent of police (Rural) Rakesh Kumar Mishra s...