The viral reports of an Indian Python allegedly devouring a 70-year-old man is now 9-day-old. However, the whereabouts of the missing person, Nanda Kishore Behera, are still unknown. On August 28, Nanda had reportedly gone inside the Chandaka-Damapara Wildlife Sanctuary for selling clothes after crossing the Jaria check gate near Gayalabanka area of Banki. However, panic gripped the area when the moped of Nanda was found the next morning in a 20-feet gorge near Bengapani Ghati. It had propably skidded off the hilly road. Though police conducted a manhunt with help of a sniffer dog, the effort yielded no result. On August 30, while searching for the missing old man, a team encountered an Indian Rock Python with a bulging abdomen, which indicated a large meal like deer or goat, or wild boar. However, villagers interpreted it otherwise and presumed that the snake had devoured Nanda. Soon, some irresponsible media took the case for gaining cheap publicity and TRP.
On August 31, a five-member team of Snake Helpline visited ground zero with local forest staff and concluded it as a hoax. The logic was simple; the distance between the two spots was too far for a python to cover after a heavy meal and the size of the missing old man was impossible for an Indian Rock Python to swallow. Moreover, there is no record of Indian Rock Python devouring an adult human being anywhere in the world.
Now, the question about the animal consumed by the python remained unsolved. We have used simple geometrical principles and derived an approximate body length of the animal inside the python’s abdomen. We analysed the photograph provided by the local forest staff and selected the best photo where the bulging of the abdomen was visible fully. We used a ‘Kangda’ plant leaf as a scale to measure the length of the animal inside. Luckily, we have collected some ‘Kangda’ plant leaves; the same leaves that were present in the photographs of the python atop Deulia Mundia hill. The Kangda leaf we measured was about 7.5 inches in length. We draw a straight line on the image of the python with the help of the computer, covering the entire length of the leaf, and put that line one by one covering the entire swelling portion of the python’s body. The total length was covered by 3 full leaf distances and a half. Multiplying 7.5 inches to 3.5 comes to 26.25 inches. Even if we make it up to 27 inches, the length is much (9 inches) shorter than 3 ft (36 inches). The missing Nanda was above 5 ft in height. Therefore, there is no question of a human over 5 ft tall being inside the swelling portion of a python’s abdomen of about 27 inches. Thus, with simple mathematics, we proved that the missing old man of >5 ft height cannot be accommodated inside the <3 ft bulging area inside the python’s abdomen.
Dr Sudipta Ranjan Singh, Additional Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine & Toxicology, said, “Though in Indonesia there are some cases of Reticulated pythons devouring humans, no such report is available for Indian Rock Pythons. The scope of survival of a missing person lying under the sky on land will be remote after 9 days. Police should investigate all other criminal angles that include possible abduction”.
Sitaram Satpathy, a retired Superintendent of Police, said, “At times Good Samaritan Citizens get unconscious persons from accidents admitted into hospitals, but their identity can only be ascertained only after they regain consciousness. However, in this case, police should start investing in other criminal angles. It may so happen that a crime had occurred at a different place, but the moped was planted at another place to mislead the investigation process”.
If at all the snake is to be captured and taken out of the protected wildlife sanctuary, it can only be done with the written permission of the Chief Wild Life Warden of Odisha. The same procedure will also be needed if a portable X-ray machine is to be used inside the sanctuary. This can only be done at the behest of the police. The police have to write to the forest department to obtain the required permission from the CWLW. Because, Indian Rock Python is a Schedule I species of reptile under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, with maximum protection given to it.
It is noteworthy that the sniffer dog engaged during the search went in the opposite direction of the snake on the hill. Therefore, the media should refrain from running after TRP in this case. Therefore, sensible reporting is the need of the hour as we have lost 9 crucial days already. The more we run after the python hypothesis, the survival of the missing Nanda Behera will fade faster and faster.
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