Forest department launched probe after woman found dead on farm in Daund
The incident took place on Saturday afternoon in Kadethan village of Daund tehsil in Pune district. Latabai Baban Dhawade, a 50-year-old woman was found dead on a sugarcane farm
The Pune Forest Department on Saturday, December 8, launched a probe after a 50-year-old woman was found dead while working on a farm in Daund tehsil. The injuries on the woman’s body prima facie seem due to a wild animal attack, however, a senior forest official said more evidence is needed to confirm the attack, and hence an investigation is underway to confirm if the death happened due to a wild animal attack or not.
The incident took place on Saturday afternoon in Kadethan village of Daund tehsil in Pune district. Latabai Baban Dhawade, a 50-year-old woman was found dead on a sugarcane farm. According to villagers, Latabai was working on the farm along with her husband. She was cutting the grass nearly 300-400 metres away from where her husband was working. Reportedly she was attacked by wild animals at a time and was dragged for around 100-125 metres away into the sugarcane field from the location where she was working. The villagers claimed that it was a leopard attack since a significant leopard presence has been recorded in this area.
The forest department was immediately informed about the attack. A team of forest officials reached the spot and inspected the area. The body was sent to the post-mortem. However, the department has not yet confirmed that it was a leopard attack.
Speaking about the incident, Deepak Pawar assistant conservator of forest, Pune Forest Department said, “I visited the spot on Saturday. Based on information shared by villagers, we have launched a probe into wild animal attacks. Two cages and four trap cameras were installed in this area. We need more evidence to confirm that the death happened due to a leopard attack. We are now waiting for the post-mortem report then only we will be able to confirm if the death happened due to a leopard attack or not.”
Daund tehsil has been experiencing a significant rise in human-leopard interaction. The latest incident has frightened the villagers and there is constant demand from villagers that the forest department should take strong action to mitigate the conflict situation.