A five-year-old girl died after being bitten by a snake while she was sleeping in her house in MRS Palya on Nandidurga Road in the early hours of Friday.
The victim, Sahana, started screaming in the middle of the night writhing in pain. Her parents woke up and found her with bleeding fingers. Believing it to be a case of bug bite, the family rushed Ms. Sahana to a nearby private hospital. However, on the way the child began frothing and her body turned blue. The doctors who examined Ms. Sahana declared her brought dead. It is suspected that she was bitten by a cobra.
The family members rushed back home and found the snake hiding in a corner of the house. They killed it and burnt the carcass outside the house. According to the family, the snake probably crawled into the house from the drainage chamber opening to a vacant site close to their house.
Ms. Sahana’s uncle Abraham said the child had started going to school only a few days ago and was thrilled about it. She is the eldest daughter of Sadananda, who works as an office boy, and Salomia, a domestic help. The couple lived with Sahana and their younger daughter Sanvi, 3.
Mr. Sadananda, who suffers from a chronic aliment, had been discharged from hospital only a few days ago. “The family had borrowed money to admit Sahana to LKG,” Mr. Abraham said.
Property owner blamed
The residents of MRS Palya blamed the owner of the property situated close to the house that is covered in shrubbery. “When the area councillor Nethravathi Krishnegowda had tried to clear the shrubbery, the owner of the property filed a trespass case,” Mr. Abraham said.
The family refused to file a police complaint fearing the girl would be subjected to autopsy. They performed her final rites even as Ms. Krishnegowda promised to try to get them compensation from the mayor’s fund.
According to the neighbours, a 50-year-old security guard named Basha had died in the area last year following a snakebite.