Woman gone, snake skin left behind: Elopement sparks 'nagin' scare in UP village

A young woman’s sudden disappearance sparked panic, superstition and wild rumours in a Uttar Pradesh village after her family found what appeared to be a five-foot-long snake skin wrapped in clothes on her bed, fuelling whispers that she had turned into a ‘nagin’. The truth, police later found, was far from supernatural but no less dramatic.

The incident unfolded in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district, where the woman went missing from her home, leaving behind a carefully staged scene that stunned her family and neighbours.

The drama came to light when the woman did not come out of her room in the morning. Alarmed family members entered her room and were left shaken by what they saw - a long snake’s sloughed skin, wrapped neatly in clothes and placed on her bed.

Within hours, rumours swept through the village.

Some residents believed the woman had fallen victim to a mysterious incident, while others claimed she had transformed into a ‘nagin’. Panic spread rapidly, forcing the family to alert the police by dialling 112.

Police reached the spot as confusion gripped the area.

Initially, the woman’s family avoided speaking in detail, adding to the mystery surrounding her disappearance. As officers began examining the scene, it became clear that the incident was not accidental.

Police later found that the woman had been in a relationship with a man from the same village and had planned her disappearance in advance.

Investigators said the woman deliberately wrapped the snake skin in clothes and placed it on her bed to make the disappearance appear mysterious and divert suspicion. After setting the stage, she quietly fled her home with her lover.

“The entire incident was a film-style drama,” said police station in-charge Ajay Kumar. “The woman left the snake skin intentionally to mislead people. Her mobile phone has been put under surveillance and efforts are on to trace her.”

Following the police probe, the woman’s family submitted a formal complaint reporting her missing. Based on the complaint, police registered a case against unknown persons and launched a search operation.

Officials said the ‘nagin’ rumour that gripped the village has now died down, even as teams continue to track the woman’s location through technical surveillance.

Police said the full sequence of events would be made public once she is traced and brought back, bringing an end to a mystery that briefly turned an ordinary village into the centre of a bizarre spectacle.

- Ends

With inputs from Surya Sharma

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