Cobra Bites, Kills Man After He Wrapped Reptile Around His Neck

A man died of snake bite after he wrapped a cobra around his neck and tried to scare away the bystanders in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, India, on Monday. It came to light after the video of the incident went viral on social media the following day.

Jagadish, 24, visited a snake charmer who was entertaining locals. The drunk snake charmer claimed he had an antidote for snake bites.

The video shows the snake charmer taking out the cobra from his basket and handing it to Jagadish. The snake charmer then encourages him to wrap the snake around his neck assuring that he has an antidote for snake bites.

Jagadish wrapped the reptile around his neck and tried to scare the locals by holding it in his hand. Police said the man also told his friend to take a picture with the snake, which is when it bit him and he collapsed.

“The snake charmer was collecting money from the public by displaying the cobra. He had removed the fangs and poison a few weeks ago, but the snake developed the venom again. Unaware of this Jagadish came to the snake charmer who handed over the snake to him. While Jagadish was holding the snake, the drunk charmer told him not to hold at snake's neck,” Sullurpet police inspector Kishore Babu told local daily Times Of India.

He was rushed to a local hospital and later to another hospital where he was declared brought dead.

A case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder was registered against the snake charmer who was absconding since the incident.

"The fangs are nothing but maxillary teeth. Regeneration of fangs depends on the injury. If the injury is bad, they will never grow it again. If there is no injury to teeth gums, they can grow again in a month time. In this case, there could be two possibilities. First one, the snake may have developed fang again and bitten him. Or otherwise, if the venom gland is intact, the other teeth puncture the skin when bitten and the venom can enter from the cuts,” Friends of Snake Society chief functionary Avinash Viswanath said.