E-Paper
Leopard kills minor boy in Shirur in 7th such death since March 2024
As Vansh was behind the others, a leopard appeared out of nowhere and pounced on the little boy, dragging him to a nearby farm
In what is the seventh such death since March this year under the Junnar forest division, Vansh Sing, 7, was killed in a leopard attack in Shirur tehsil of Pune district, officials confirmed on Sunday.
According to information shared by the forest department, Vansh and his family had shifted to Shirur around three to four years ago and had since been working at the Wageshwar jaggery factory owned by Sandip Ghatge in the Gokulnagar area of Mandavgan Farata village in Shirur.
At around 9.45 pm on Friday, there was an argument between Vansh’s father Rajkumar Sing and mother Rekha Sing after which the latter stepped out of the house threatening Rajkumar that she would leave their home. Rekha’s daughter followed in her footsteps even as Rajkumar and Vansh trudged behind the mother and daughter.
As Vansh was behind the others, a leopard appeared out of nowhere and pounced on the little boy, dragging him to a nearby farm. Seeing this, Vansh’s father started shouting for help and hearing his screams, the other labourers too came out of their houses and ran after the leopard. However, they could follow the big cat only so far as the ground was damp and muddy.
The villagers informed the factory owner, police and forest department officials about the incident after which a team of forest officials rushed to the spot and launched a search operation. Vansh’s body was recovered from about 200 to 300 feet away and immediately taken to Shirur Hospital where the doctors declared him dead. The post-mortem was conducted on Saturday, October 19.
V M Chavan, forest officer of the Mandavgan Farata area, said, “After this incident, we have installed 12 cages and six trap cameras in this area. Efforts are underway to capture the leopard…”
Meanwhile, the forest department has initiated procedure to compensate Vansh’s family for the tragic loss and all standard operating procedures are being followed in the case, said another forest official.
Frequent leopard- sightings and attacks have struck fear into the hearts of the residents of Junnar, Shirur and nearby tehsils. People are afraid to step out especially during the night and early morning hours, and are demanding strict action against these attacks.
