Murlidhar Jadhav, 35, a constable attached to Shivaji Park police station and an intrepid snake catcher, managed to catch the 5-foot-long Spectacled Cobra around midnight and took it to the Aarey forest where he released it around 4 am. According to the police, Jadhav receives calls all the time from people who spot snakes in their areas. Jadhav has also been chosen as an animal welfare officer by the government.

Jadhav, who joined the Mumbai police in 2007, has so far caught around 1,000 snakes. He said he was bitten by a snake as a 10-year-old, and has been fascinated by the critters every since.

The Indian cobra is native to the Indian subcontinent and can be found throughout India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and southern Nepal. In India, it may or may not occur in the state of Assam, some parts of Kashmir, and it does not occur in high altitudes of over 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) and extreme desert regions.

The Indian cobra's venom mainly contains a powerful post-synaptic neurotoxin and cardiotoxin. The venom acts on the synaptic gaps of the nerves, thereby paralyzing muscles, and in severe bites leading to respiratory failure or cardiac arrest. The venom components include enzymes such as hyaluronidase that cause lysis and increase the spread of the venom. Envenomation symptoms may manifest between 15 minutes and 2 hours following the bite.

Cobra derives from a Portuguese word for snake (from Latin original coluber) (the other is serpente) without distinction as to type. In English and in some other languages, it has been adopted as a more specific name for poisonous snakes that can produce a hood.Although the bites of some species are extremely dangerous because of their potent neurotoxins, cobras have not been shown to attack people unprovoked. Cobras almost never attack without a threat display, which typically involves raising the hood and hissing.