Girl killed, eaten by leopard in Sohel Dev sanctuary

BAHRAICH: In growing incidents of leopard attacks in the Terai belt of Uttar Pradesh, a 10-yr-old girl was killed and partially eaten by a leopard in Sohel Dev Wildlife Sanctuary.

She was dragged to a dense forest by the feline from her house in Maitahwa village of Balrampur district on Tuesday evening and her body was found two km away in Bhadwar village bordering dense forests on Wednesday.

Divisional forest officer (DFO) Javed Akhtar said, "As the ill-fated girl Mamta entered her house along with her sister Suneeta (13), the leopard leaped on them, caught her by neck and vanished in the nearby forest in the darkness of night."

By the time villagers reached the spot, the leopard had disappeared with its prey. On being informed, forest ranger of Barahwa Manoj Kumar Singh reached the village with his team. The forest department team, along with villagers and Sahashtra Seema Bal (SSB) jawans, searched for the girl but could not find her on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, the partially eaten body of the girl and her clothes were found in the forest about 400 metres from Bhadwar village. Pug marks of the leopard were also found around the spot, Akhtar said.