Snake bites man in India, man bites back and kills it in bizarre ‘revenge’

The man was returning home from work when a krait snake bit him on a leg

File: The krait snake is a venomous species found in south and southeast Asia (Getty Images)

A man in India reportedly sank his teeth into a snake and killing it in an odd case of ‘revenge’, after the snake bit him first when he was on his way home.

Kishore Badra, from Gambharipatia village in Jajpur district in eastern India’s Odisha state, was returning home after finishing work on a paddy field on Wednesday when a snake bit his leg.

It is advisable to consult a medical doctor immediately after a snakebite. Mr Badra, however, sought “revenge” and caught hold of the snake, after which he bit it repeatedly, killing it in the process.

“Something bit on my leg while I was returning home on foot last night. I switched on my torch and found it to be a poisonous krait snake,” Mr Badra told news agency Press Trust of India (PTI). “In order to take revenge, I took the snake in my hands and bit it repeatedly, killing the viper on the spot (sic),” he said.

Mr Badra then brought the dead snake to show to his village and claimed to be perfectly fine after the bite. He refused to get treated at a hospital and relied on a traditional healer instead.

“Even though I bit the poisonous krait, I did not feel any difficulty. I went to a traditional healer residing near the village and was cured,” he told PTI on Thursday.

The krait is a venomous, three-foot-tall snake found in south and southeast Asia. It is believed to be more active during the night. Snakebites are usually dangerous and a bite from a venomous snake can also risk a person’s life or disable them.

India accounts for the greatest number of snakebite-related deaths in the world, at an average of 58,000 per year, according to a research paper from 2020 titled Snakebite Mortality in India: A Nationally Representative Mortality Survey.