Lynette Hilt demonstrates the chilli pepper spray. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Calcutta, June 13: It is a self-defence weapon all right, and an effective one at that, but it does not kill, neither does it maim for life.

Pepper spray has been around in the West for a while now, but is still a fairly new concept in India. However, even in Calcutta it is catching on, with crime on the rise and women and businessmen increasingly becoming targets of attacks.

Calcuttans have been grabbing Cobra cans, stuffed with oleoresin capsaicin, the ingredient that makes red chilli pepper hot.

?From Burrabazar businessmen to models, students to airline officials and airport staff; corporate employees working late hours, residents of Salt Lake and areas around the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, people who?ve bought them for their drivers, housewives from places around Calcutta who travel regularly on trains ? they?ve all bought Cobra,? says Lynette Hilt, who sells the aerosol cans here.

AAX Global is the ?only one with a licence? to manufacture the spray in India. Bangalore-based Rana Singh of AAX came up with the product. Since 2002, the market has expanded around the country. Delhi is the biggest buyer. And though the price of Rs 499 makes it a rather expensive product, over 500 cans have already been sold here, adds Hilt.

?Although I had relocated down South for the past two years, my mother was selling them here. Now that I?m home, the interest has rekindled. People call me to find out if I?m back for good, and the next question is inevitably ?have you got Cobra with you??,? says the ?Cobra lady?.

The sister of musician Lew Hilt has to register every item sold and the buyer has to produce identification. A licence is not required to carry the can under the Arms Act, which is needed only for firearms.

The can is small (35 gm, 55 ml) and easily carried. The chilli powder used in the spray comes from Mexican chilli, brought from the US. A half-second burst can hurt up to 10 people, going as far as six feet.