A snake charmer, Imran Hossain, 38, was bitten while trying to catch a cobra at a home in Bheramara upazila of Kushtia. He is being treated at Kushtia General Hospital.

The incident happened at around 10pm on 17 July in the Baggari Para area of Golapnagar union in the upazila. Imran is the son of Mosharaf Hossain of Hirimadia Gorostan Para in Bheramara upazila.

Imran, who describes himself as a snake charmer and ojha (traditional snakebite healer), regularly posts videos of catching snakes in various places on social media.

Local sources said Imran went to the house of local resident Amirul Islam that night to remove a snake. After digging into the courtyard and pulling a cobra out of a hole, he tried to catch it, and the snake bit him above the knee. Two local young men quickly took him to Kushtia General Hospital.

Speaking from hospital, Imran said: "The day before, Thursday, Amirul Islam's only son Samrat, 22, died of a snakebite. Samrat, a mason, married a year and a half ago and his wife is four months pregnant. When a snake was seen at the house again on Friday after Samrat's death, the family panicked and called me."

He said: "First I rescued three baby snakes from the courtyard. Then I pulled a big cobra out of a hole. About a minute and a half after I caught it, it bit me above the knee through my carelessness. Two local young men quickly brought me to hospital. I am fine now."

After the incident, a visiting card of Imran's spread on social media. On it he presents himself as a snake charmer and claims to catch snakes and remove snake venom by incantation, and also to treat various complex and "secret" diseases.

Kushtia General Hospital's resident medical officer (RMO) Iqbal Hasan said Imran was given the necessary treatment and antivenom after he was brought in, and was kept under close observation. His condition has improved and he is now out of danger.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.