Three prisoners from the Lucknow prison had the misfortune of getting bitten by snakes which had gotten into the premises after waterlogging from torrential rains over the past two days.

One of the inmates, Babbu, who was serving a life sentence, succumbed to the venom. The remaining two, Raj Kumar and Dilip, were taken to hospital and are in a better condition.

The spokesman for prison departments and reforms Santosh Verma stated jailor Satish Chandra Tripathi hired a team of snake charmers to help with the snakes and after a comprehensive search of the jail premises they managed to get four snakes.

The snake charmers reported that the reptiles must have entered the premises using the drain water when it overflowed from the rain. The prisoners and the staff have been informed to remain alert because the presence of snakes should not be ruled out yet.

Lucknow prison is a facility for long term offenders. It is also for those involved in terror cases and anti-national activities. There has been some back and forth over shifting of the prisoners to high security jails. The jail structure in Lucknow has been located around the periphery of the city. It is also surrounded by open terrain, where a large number of the reptiles are observed before they approach.

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A 58-year-old man died Monday after he was bitten by a venomous snake inside his home. pixabay

The trouble this time was due to geography and the concentration of the reptiles within the vicinity. Usually, snakes keep away from human contact as much as they can but this is affected by rain storms when they torrential rains occur.

As the waters recede days after, the reptiles find their burrows filled with water and start to wander in search of refuge. In densely populated areas, it is not hard for them to come into contact with other human beings and their homes.

In this case, the snakes found themselves in the drainage of the prison and ended up within the prison population. Other instances have happened in homes. In Aluva, which is south of Uttar Pradesh, a woman in Desom is believed to have found 35 snakes in her house which she allegedly killed.

It is not clear the type of snakes which were found in Lucknow prison, but the majority of those in the aftermath of floods in the Kerala area are kraits and cobras.

The prison department will probably not have the same enthusiasm as the Snakes and Wild Animals Rescuers Association toward keeping the reptiles alive once they are spotted considering they have already proven fatal to their prison population.