The incident happened in Jalan Haji Ibrahim, Jenjarom, here, early today about 3am.
Zaim Khalis Kosnan, 35, died of asphyxiation after his neck was constricted by the python.
His brother-in-law, Mohd Noor Radiman, 54, said he was told that the victim only held on to the snake’s head while returning home on a motorcycle.
“The python began to coil around his body and constricted his neck when he was on his way home.”
Both then fell off the motorcycle.
“He was already dead when the passers-by found him by the roadside,” Noor said when met at the Banting Hospital’s Forensic Department here.
Noor said his family members were not aware that the victim was trained to catch snakes. However, he had been seen doing it before by other villagers.
Kuala Langat district police chief Supt Azizan Tukiman said passers-by at the scene had attempted to save the victim but he was already dead by then.
“Members of the public killed the python. The victim was believed to have caught the reptile for sale,” he said in a statement.
The case has been classified as sudden death.