Kerala family suspects death of son succumbing to king cobra bite in zoo

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Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 2 (IANS) The father of Harshad, an animal keeper at the famed Trivandrum Zoo who succumbed to the bite of a king cobra on July 1, has raised doubts over the death of his son.

This was pointed out by Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan in a letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Satheesan has forwarded the letter of Harshad's father in which he has raised doubts in the way his son died, and Satheesan has asked Vijayan for a detailed probe.

It was on July 1, according to the Zoo officials, Harshad was in-charge of providing food to the animals and CCTV footage shows at 12.15 p.m. that day as usual he entered the cage of the King Cobra to clean it and then give food.

When he was found missing for a while, his colleagues came looking for him and was found inside the cage. He was quickly moved to the state-run Medical College hospital, where he was declared dead.

Harshad's wife was living separately from him and he was upset because of that. On the fateful day, he had received a call on his mobile and was said to be very restless after that.

Meanwhile, doubts have been raised by his family. They contend that if it had been a natural bite by the snake, the person would have raised an alarm. Moreover, the bite of a king cobra is said to be very painful, but there was no sound raised by Harshad and he was seen lying collapsed inside the cage.

In a related incident, the brother of Harshad's wife was reported to have created a scene at Harshad's house after his parents approached higher authorities for a detailed probe into the death as this came after the government had announced a compensation of Rs three million to the family of Harshad.

And now with Satheesan also joining the issue, all eyes are on Vijayan and what action is going to be taken.

--IANS

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