Police clueless as threat snake received by Keith D'Silva goes missing

BENGALURU: Bescom clerk Keith D'Silva (40) has gone sleepless ever since he opened a couriered package last week containing a live venomous snake. The box is believed to have been sent by someone who does not like his wife being friendly with D'Silva.

On D'Silva's complaint, the High Grounds police are investigating the case, but they are not sure if they can take the case to its logical conclusion.Reason: they will have to produce the snake in the court as evidence, but they no longer have the reptile in their custody . The only evidence in their possession is the letter which threatens D'Silva with more ominous surprises in future, if he does not stop talking to his wife.

October 14, Wednesday , was a horrible day for D'Silva. He arrived at his office in Shivananda Circle as usual.

A box addressed to him arrived by courier. Alone in his cabin, he opened the box and found, to his horror, a snake which police described as a green viper. He clicked a picture of the snake before releasing it and throwing the box away .

The box came with a letter warning D'Silva to "stay away from my wife, or brace up for bigger surprises".

The sender of the deadly package remains a mystery .

Evidently , the High Grounds police investigating the case are not very serious. D'Silva, police said, suspects a colleague at the vigilance department. The police have summoned the person for questioning on Monday .

"All that we know is that the courier was sent from Rajajinagar, and the return address provided by the sender is false. We are also checking the handwriting in the letter with that of Keith's colleagues," DCP (Central) Sandeep Patil said.

In all this, D'Silva says he will not stop speaking to his colleagues, women included. "Somebody could not digest the fact that I speak to all my colleagues in office, so I was threatened with a snake," he told ET.