In the incident of Vikas Dubey, a resident of Fatehpur district, claiming to have been bitten by a snake seven times within 40 days, it has been revealed that the 24-year-old youth was bitten by a snake only once. It has emerged that Vikas Dubey has ophidiophobia which means the fear of snakes. The revelation was made by the three-member team formed by the Chief Health Officer of Fatehpur. On 16th July, the Health Department submitted its report to the DM in which it said that only one snake bite was genuine.
As reported earlier, Vikas Dubey claimed to have survived alleged snake bites seven times in 40 days claiming the reptile appeared to him in a dream and told him that it would take his life on its ninth attempt. The resident of Soura village in the district said that he suffered another snake bite, allegedly the seventh when he was at his uncle’s home. Doctors were also baffled by the strange phenomenon in which Dubey gets bitten by a snake either on a Saturday or a Sunday. He said that before getting bitten each time, he gets a premonition. The doctor who treated Dubey, Dr Jawahar Lal found it all strange and advised him to leave his house and stay elsewhere.
After this, the Chief Medical Officer further formed a three-doctor team to investigate the matter.
On Monday, CMO Dr Rajiv Nayan Giri, SDM Pradeep Raman, Naib Tehsildar City Vijay Prakash Tiwari, Additional CMO Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed, Dr Rajendra Verma, Dr NK Saxena arrived at the Ramsanehi Nursing Home to investigate the matter. The team made a comparison between Vikas Dubey’s and a Mohankheda resident victim’s snakebite marks. There was another patient at the Ramsanehi Nursing Home’s ICU. His marks were also matched with Vikas’s based on pictures. When Vikas’s bite marks were found for the first time, they resembled those of the second individual. However, the six additional marks were not the same as the snakebite marks.
Vikas Dubey’s treatment file was viewed by the three-member investigative team when they visited Ramsanehi Hospital, according to Deputy CMO Dr. Rajendra Kumar. It was found that Vikas Dubey is suffering from Ophidiophobia or phobia of snakes. Reports say that Dubey will now be helped by a psychiatrist.
