A disturbing video has surfaced on social media which shows a man from Telengana performing a dangerous stunt by putting a cobra inside his mouth.
According to media reports, the man later died after he was bitten by the snake while recording.
The incident took place in Telangana’s Kamareddy district, reported the Hindustan Times.
Police identified the man as 20-year-old Mochi Shivaraj.
They said he and his father Ganga Ram, a snake catcher, were summoned by residents of Deshaipet after several cobras were spotted in the village.
Having received basic training from his father, Shivaraj caught a 2m-long cobra. He first took selfies with the poisonous snake before proceeding to shoot videos – probably with the aim of posting them on Instagram.
In one video, he is seen standing in the middle of a road and putting the cobra inside his mouth. He then looks at the camera with folded hands and, at one point, even runs his hands through his hair. All the while, the cobra trapped in his mouth is seen wriggling to break free.
The 44-second video ends with Shivaraj showing a thumbs up with the reptile’s head still in his mouth.
The snake reportedly bit him in the mouth moments later.
According to Telugu Scribe, Shivaraj and his father made a living by catching and killing snakes. The father asked him to make videos with the cobra so they could post them on social media and become more famous.
Srinivas Reddy K, editor of Telangana Today, shared the video on X and said:. “Here is the gullible youngster, who held a cobra in his mouth to get filmed possibly for posting on social media platforms. He died later as the snake bit him in his mouth. This bizarre incident happened in Desaipet village of #Kamareddy district in #Telangana. #bizarre.”
The video sparked outrage among social media users, with many asking why the man would put a cobra in his mouth.
One person wrote: “This is so scary, but why would he do that?”
Another said: “RIP. I wish it weren’t like that, but doing these things for reels always proves fatal.”
A third user commented: “This shows how addicted to social media today’s youth are. They are risking everything for fleeting popularity.”
This tragic incident echoes a similar case in Andhra Pradesh in July, when a heavily intoxicated man, Madhubabu Nagaraju, was hospitalised after provoking a cobra for over an hour.
Despite warnings from bystanders, Nagaraju tormented the snake until it bit him.
