It was a unique murder case in which a cobra snake was used to kill a young man in the Haldwani city area of Nainital district of Uttarakhand. The district police have cracked the case, with the arrest of four persons including a snake charmer.

It was on July 14 that Ankit Chauhan, a businessman was found dead in his car. The engine of the car was found running. The post-mortem of the deceased indicated that the death was caused due to venomous snake bite. However, what came as a surprise to the investigators was that there were two snake bites on the foot of the deceased. Usually, in the case of a normal bite, the snake only bites once.

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The police investigations found that Ankit Chauhan was in a relationship with a Mahi alias Dolly Arya, a resident of the Gorapadav area of the city for the past seven years. She was also friendly with Deep Kandpal of the Halduchor area of the city. The police found that Ankit Chauhan was trying to control the wayward activities of Mahi and used to even beat her up. His overbearing attitude was resented by Mahi who used to allegedly extort money from Ankit Chauhan. The police said that Mahi, Deep Kandpal, their maidservant Usha and her husband Ramavatar hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Ankit Chauhan. However, Mahi who was friendly with a snake charmer namely Ramesh Nath, roped in him to get Ankit Chauhan murdered with a cobra bite.

On the fateful day, Mahi called Ankit Chauhan to her home for drinks and sedated him with drugs. When he became unconscious, Mahi, Deep Kandpal, Usha, and Ram Avatar pinned him down while Ramesh Nath got him bitten by a cobra snake that he had found in the area some time ago. Not sure about the death of Ankit Chauhan, he again forced the snake to bite the deceased. They then took away the body of Ankit in his car to dispose-off it but developed cold feet and left it in his car with the engine running. The alleged accused dispersed after the commission of the crime.

Dr. Nilesh Anand Bharne, DIG, police said that the first to be arrested in the murder case was snake charmer Ramesh Nath. Later, Mahi and Deep Kandpal were arrested while they were trying to surrender in a court on Sunday. The location of Usha, her main, and her husband Ram Avatar is found to be in Bihar where police teams have been sent to arrest them.