4-year-old girl dies in leopard attack in Pune

A leopard came suddenly when the girl was playing in front of her house with her mother sitting nearby, and dragged her inside a sugarcane field next to their house amid her mother shouting for help

A four-year-old girl died in a leopard attack in Shirur tehsil in Pune district on Tuesday, officials from the State Forest Department said.

Forest officials said that the leopard’s attack was so severe that the girl’s body was found dismembered with head separated from the torso. (Representational image)

The deceased has been identified as Raksha Nikam, a resident of Pimpalsuti village in Shirur.

The incident took place when the girl was playing in front of the house with her mother sitting nearby. A leopard came suddenly and dragged her inside a sugarcane field next to their house amid her mother shouting for help. A search was carried out for her with the forest department officials arriving at the incident spot.

The body was found in the sugarcane field after two hours of searching. The attack was so severe that the girl’s body was found dismembered with head separated from the torso, official said.

mita Rajhans, assistant conservator of forest, Junnar forest division, said, “The department is now following the Standard procedure during the probe and efforts are on to capture the leopard involved in the attack.”