Bommai announces ₹15 lakh for leopard attack victims’ kin

A 22-year-old woman, Meghana, was killed in the backyard of her house by a leopard at Kebbegundi village in T Narasipura taluk of Mysuru district on Thursday.On October 31, a 21-year-old man, Manjunath, was mauled to death by a leopard in T Narsipura Taluk’s ML Hundi village

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday announced a compensation of ₹15 lakh each to the families of two people killed in leopard attacks in Mysuru in last few weeks.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said the compensation is similar to the one paid to the victims of wild elephant attacks. (PTI)

A 22-year-old woman, Meghana, was killed in the backyard of her house by a leopard at Kebbegundi village in T Narasipura taluk of Mysuru district on Thursday.On October 31, a 21-year-old man, Manjunath, was mauled to death by a leopard in T Narsipura Taluk’s ML Hundi village. Manjunath was attacked by the leopard when he and his friends were returning from a temple.

Talking to the reporters, CM Bommai said that the compensation is similar to the one paid to the victims of wild elephant attacks. He said that forest department has taken the matter very seriously and efforts are being made to catch the big cat alive and release it in the forests.

“The families of those killed in leopard attacks will be provided a compensation of ₹15 lakh. The ex-gratia is similar to the one meant for the kin of those killed by wild elephants,” Bommai said.

“We have taken the leopard attacks on human beings seriously, especially in Bengaluru and Mysuru. The forest officials have laid traps for the wild animals. I have told them to catch the animals alive and release in the forest,” Bommai said.

The Karnataka forest department had issued a shoot-at-sight order against a leopard after the animal killed a woman in Mysuru, officials familiar with the matter said on Friday.

“The senior forest officers at the state level have given us the permission to shoot the leopard as the animal killed two people in 30 days. We have launched an operation to catch the leopard,” said chief conservator of forests Dr Malathi Priya.

Earlier, an alert was also sounded in Kengeri, Kumbalagodu, Devanahalli and surrounding localities of Bengaluru after locals spotted four leopards in the area. A search is underway in both the cities and the authorities have requested the people to maintain caution. On Thursday, the authorities had also found the carcass of a deer killed by a leopard in Kodipalya near Kanakapura on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

In Devanahalli, a leopard was seen near Chikkajala on the premises of a private company. A team of five officials from the Karnataka forest department had searched the area but the animal remained untraceable.