Forest officials today said Appaya Naicker of K Kammapatti had sighted the cobra in his field while watering plants. When the highly venomous reptile raised its hood, the farmer panicked and tried to back out.
However, the snake tried to bite him, after which he hit it on the head with a spade, killing it on the spot. He later buried it.
Forest officials, who came to know about the incident from local people, exhumed the snake.
They arrested the farmer for killing a rare species of snake and produced him before a court here last evening which remanded him to judicial custody for 15 days, officials said.