Saroj Kumar Das, who lives on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar in eastern India, sat on a sofa at his home on May 12 and felt something move under him.

Busy with his phone, he ignored it and continued to sit on his sofa, when he felt the movement again.

This time he thought something was amiss and quickly got off the sofa. When he tried to check, a hissing sound came from inside warning him to stay away.

He called Snake Helpline, who sent a volunteer, Biranchi Narayan Acharjya, on a rescue mission. Biranchi took the sofa to the courtyard and searched, but was unable to spot the snake easily which continued to hiss warnings.

He cut open sofa cover, panels and dug inside. After nearly 30 minutes, a four-feet-long Indian spectacled cobra peeped out. Biranchi caught it and released it in a safe location.

Subhendu Mallik, founder of Snake Helpline, said: "It was horrifying to find a deadly cobra inside the sofa. Its fangs could have easily penetrated the cover and injected venom.

“Due to the COVID-19 lockdown, snakes are entering homes more than before as people are off the streets,” he added.

Saroj Kumar Das, who lives on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar in eastern India, sat on a sofa at his home on May 12 and felt something move under him.

Busy with his phone, he ignored it and continued to sit on his sofa, when he felt the movement again.

This time he thought something was amiss and quickly got off the sofa. When he tried to check, a ‘hiss’ sound came from inside warning him to stay away.

He called Snake Helpline, who sent a volunteer, Biranchi Narayan Acharjya, on a rescue mission. Biranchi took the sofa to the courtyard and searched, but was unable to spot the snake easily, which however, continued to hiss warnings.

He cut open sofa cover, panels and dug inside. After nearly 30 minutes, a four-feet-long Indian spectacled cobra peeped out. Biranchi caught it and released it in a far away natural habitat.

Subhendu Mallik, founder of Snake Helpline, said: "It was horrifying to find a deadly cobra inside the sofa. Its fangs could have easily penetrated the cover and injected venom."

“Due to the Covid 19 lockdown, snakes are entering homes more than before as people are off the streets,” he added.