The locals said that after the incident on Sunday, they feared the snake might harm someone else also and hence burnt the reptile alive on the pyre.
In the incident, a poisonous snake was reportedly believed to have bitten a 22-year-old man in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district, following which the locals burnt the reptile alive on his funeral pyre.
Locals, afraid the snake may harm someone else, went ahead and burned it on the pyre after this incident on Sunday.
A district official stated the need to educate people about these reptiles and snakebite management.
A video showing some persons dragging the reptile using a rope has surfaced on social media.
An official here said a common krait bit the man identified as Digeshwar Rathiya on Saturday night as he was adjusting his bed in a room at his house in Baigamar village.
Rathiya alerted his family members about it, following which he was rushed to a government hospital in Korba, where he died on Sunday morning during treatment, he said.
According to the official, the body was handed over to the family for cremation after postmortem.
The villagers later caught the snake and kept it in a covered basket; they tied it with a rope hanging from a bamboo stick.
While the funeral procession of Rathiya was taken out from his house to the crematorium, the villagers also dragged the snake to the place, a clip of which surfaced on social media.
Later, they burnt the snake alive on the funeral pyre of Rathiya.
According to sources, a few villagers stated that they were scared that the poisonous snake might attack someone else, and hence, they burnt it on the pyre.
