Catching snakes a child’s play for this Siddipet man

Iqbal Patel, who gets two or three calls a day, has caught thousands of poisonous reptiles in the past decade

Siddipet: A sudden encounter with a cobra at home can shake up even the strong-hearted, but there are some like Mohammad Iqbal Patel who handles these venomous reptiles with ease.

A snake charmer by profession, Patel is known for his ability to catch even the most venomous snakes with ease in Siddipet town and surrounding areas. While the entire Siddipet town was under lockdown, Patel got a call from a resident of Yellamma Temple area at 11am on Thursday. He rushed to Bala Santha Rangaiah’s residence where the family had sighted a cobra. They came out of their house and made a call to Patel, who rushed to the spot on his two-wheeler.

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Within minutes, Patel searched the entire house and caught the cobra. What caught public attention was that Patel carried the cobra in one hand while riding his two wheeler. Some passers-by captured pictures of Patel and posted them on social networking sites that went viral. Later, Patel released the snake into the wild at Ponnala Area.

Speaking to Telangana Today, Patel said he had learnt the art of snake catching from his guru Siddula Rajaiah some 10 years ago. Stating that he saw some people exploiting citizens in the name of catching snakes, Patel said he decided to help the people in his locality after learning the art of catching snakes. He shot to fame within months and started getting calls from across the Siddipet town. “I have got calls even from the collectorate, police stations and VIPs’ residences in Siddipet if they sight snakes,” Patel said proudly.

Bitten five times

Stating that he would get at least two or three calls every day on average, he said he had caught thousands of snakes in the past one decade and released them into the forests safely. Patel had been bitten by various snakes five times so far including the deadly cobra. “My life was saved since anti-venom was available in the government hospital at that time,” said the snake catcher.

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