Gory revenge: Villagers kill, feast on leopard

GUWAHATI: In a bizarre case of man's vengeance against a beast, a group of villagers in Assam's Sivasagar district killed and ate a leopard after it mauled two girls of their village.

The upper Assam district has witnessed at least 20 such attacks on villagers by the spotted animal in recent weeks.

���Around 10.30 am on Thursday, a leopard sneaked into Dhuniapathar village looking for food. It attacked two teenage girls as soon as it saw them in a paddyfield,'' an official said.

As word about intrusion spread, villagers rushed to the place armed with axes and sticks. ''The crowd somehow cornered the animal,'' the official said.

The villagers then proceeded to hack the frightened big cat and then ''celebrated'' the gory death of their ''tormentor'' by cooking and feasting on its meat, said the official. ''We are investigating the incident,'' a forest official said.