Panic gripped locals in Simauli village in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut after a large number of snakes crawled out of the courtyard of a farmer's house on June 01. A video of snakes emerging one after another from under a ramp near the door of Mahfooz Saifi's house went viral on social media. According to reports, villagers and Saifi's family together killed more than 50 snakes and buried them in a pit. Later, it emerged that the snakes were creatures protected under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972. The forest department is now investigating how many snakes were killed and where they were buried.
