Leopard attacks two in Dhar's Pipli village

Two people, including an eight-year-old boy, were seriously injured when they were attacked by a leopard at Pipli village in Dhar district under Nalcha police station in the wee hours of Friday.

Two people, including an eight-year-old boy, were seriously injured when they were attacked by a leopard at Pipli village in Dhar district under Nalcha police station in the wee hours of Friday.

The incident happened when Gulabsingh and his son Sunil were sleeping outside their house. According to Gulabsingh, the animal first tried to pull Sunil into the forest.

"As soon as the leopard pulled him by the ear, he awoke and raised an alarm. On hearing his cries, I ran towards the wild cat to save my son," he said.

When Gulabsingh tried to chase the leopard, the animal let go off Sunil and attacked his father before fleeing.

The injured were rushed to the district hospital by locals.

Confirming presence of a leopard in forest area around village, divisional forest officer Gourav Choudhary said search teams had recently spotted leopard pugmarks near the village.

"The fresh attack has put the forest search teams on high alert. Efforts to catch wild cat are on," he said.