Television series used real snake, say forensic reports

Mumbai: The Mumbai territorial range of Thane forest department has lodged a FIR against actors of the television series Nagaarjun after forensic reports revealed that the show made use of a real snake and not a fake one created by special effects as claimed earlier by those associated with it. Last year, the anti-poaching unit of Thane forest department inspected the Nagaarjun sets at Film City after an Instagram picture of the series’ actors holding a protected (schedule 1) spectacled cobra went viral on October 17.

At the time, show management said that the pictures posted on Instagram were due to special effects and the snake used wasn’t real. The case was then transferred to the territorial range of forest department (TFD) but the show management told them the same thing. Forest officials then investigated into the matter and sent a screenshot of the Instagram post to Kalina Forensic Laboratory for identifying whether the picture was that of a real snake or not. “According to the reports, a real snake was used in the post which is a violation of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA). The team has admitted that a real snake was used and said that they did not know the person who gave the snake to them,” a source revealed.  

As soon as the forensic reports were out, a FIR was registered on January 17 under section 9, 39, 48 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972. Range forest officer Santosh Kank said, “We had called the show team today but they requested us for an extension as they are currently out of town. They will now come for recording the statement in the coming week.” The spectacled cobra is not only a venomous snake, it is also a protected species.