title: Homicide by direct snake bite: a case of contract killing.
abstract: It has been estimated that five million snake bite cases occur worldwide every year, causing about 100,000 deaths. Snake bite is exclusively accidental in nature. Suicide by snake bite is very rare and homicidal snake bite is not reported. In the present case, a contract killer was hired, who used a poisonous snake to kill an elderly couple by way of direct snake bite. We believe this to be the first case reported where a snake was directly used for the murder of two victims through a contract killer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Government Medical College, Maharashtra State, India. vipulambade@rediffmail.com
authors.forename: Vipul Namdeorao
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Ambade
authors.forename: Jaydeo Laxman
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Borkar
authors.forename: Satin Kalidas
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Meshram
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006708:Homicide; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012909:Snake Bites