This is the stunning moment an amateur rescuer provokes a deadly snake that he thought to be harmless to bite him.

The feat promptly landed him in ICU just a few hours later, where doctors battled to save his life.

The incident occurred in Nagpur, Maharashtra, India on July 3. Devendra Singh Parmar, 37, an amateur snake rescuer received a distress call after a family had spotted a small snake in their home.

Devendra caught the black-coloured snake with white stripes and then went on to assure the terrified family that they were in no danger.

To demonstrate that the snake was harmless he rubbed its mouth against his fingers a few times and then went to release the snake in its habitat.

A few hours later he fell violently ill and was rushed to a government hospital where he was placed in ICU for intense treatment.

“Call it a case of mistaken identity,” said Subhendu Mallik, secretary of Snake Helpline.

The snake, which Devendra thought was harmless, turned out to be a deadly common Indian Krait – one of the four major venomous snakes in India.

“The common Krait has small fangs. Hence, its bite does not leave significant fang marks or lead to oozing out of blood,” said Subhendu Mallik.

However, a mere scratch from krait can be potentially lethal.

“In the Krait bite is there are no prominent local symptoms. It takes more than three to four hours for advanced symptoms like ptosis and difficulty in speech breathing and vision to manifest,” said Subhendu.

If left untreated, bite victims may die from respiratory paralysis within five hours.

Thanks to timely treatment, Devendra is recovering well.

+VIDEO CONTAINS STILLS FROM 00:53+