A 41-year-old man in the southern Indian state of Karnataka died after being bitten by a venomous snake that was reportedly hiding in his footwear.
Manju Prakash, a software engineer working from Bengaluru’s Bannerghatta district, lost his life after being bitten by a Russell’s Viper nestled in his Crocs on Saturday.
Police reports indicated that the incident occurred around 12.30pm local time, when Prakash had stepped out briefly to buy sugarcane juice for his mother.
After returning home, he handed the juice to his sister-in-law and instructed her to give it to his mother before going to rest, The Hindu reported. He lived in the residential Ranganatha Layout area with his wife, two children, his mother, and his brother’s family.
About an hour after he arrived home, family members discovered him unresponsive, frothing at the mouth, with a bite mark visible on his toe. His relatives suggested that due to lingering numbness in his leg from an earlier accident, he may not have sensed the snake bite, according to The Indian Express.
Prakash, who was involved in a bus accident in 2016, underwent leg surgery and subsequently lost sensation in the affected leg.
“On returning home, Prakash went to his room and slept. After nearly an hour, a labourer who visited our house noticed a snake just outside the pair of Crocs. Upon checking, it was found that the snake was dead,” the victim’s brother was quoted as saying by the outlet.
Despite being rushed to a nearby hospital, doctors pronounced him dead on arrival, confirming snakebite as the cause.
Upon inspecting the home, relatives found a small Russell’s Viper trapped inside Prakash’s footwear. Authorities believe the snake may have suffocated while trying to escape.
According to iNaturalist, Russell’s Vipers are known for their “extremely painful bite” and are “considered one of the most dangerous big four snakes in India” besides the common krait, Indian cobra and the Indian saw-scaled viper.
Police sources noted that the venom acted rapidly, causing his death while he slept.
The local police have, meanwhile, registered the case as an unnatural death and are awaiting the postmortem report to rule out any suspicious circumstances.
Local reports also suggest that the area where Prakash lived borders several green spaces like parks within the vicinity, and the snake might have sneaked in from there.
