Python on city-bound train scares passengers

When slumbering travellers on a Chennai-Bengaluru train heard a slithering in their coaches on Sunday night, they initially wrote it off as another one of those strange noises that often manifest on passenger trains. That is until a passenger turned on the light and saw a gigantic python moving in their midst.

The sight of the snake, according to wildlife rescuer Sharath Babu, caused pandemonium inside the coach. “The incident happened just as the train was coming into the Bengaluru Cantonment railway station,” Babu said.

Passengers streamed out of the coach as the train pulled into the station. But at least several had the presence of mind to call wildlife rescuers to come to secure the animal. However, by the time rescuers could respond, the train, the Lalbagh Express, was pulling in the Bengaluru City railway station.

“We found and secured the python at the city station,” Babu said.

However, the one who did escape the net was the smuggler, who wildlife rescuers believe may have slipped away when the train stopped at the Cantonment station.

The reptile, a python molurus, measured 8 feet long and weighed eight kg. It was shifted to the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre at the Bannerghatta Biological Park, where it will remain until a decision is taken on it.

“It is possible that the smuggler was transporting more than one python,” a source said, adding that the incident highlights the fact that a wildlife smuggling racket was being run through the city railways stations, right under the nose of the police.

“Also, consider the implications of this incident: this was Indian python, which can kill supine humans through constriction, and almost everybody on that coach was asleep,” the source added.

Railway police officials initially said they were unaware of the incident, but later registered an FIR against unknown persons.