Lakhimpur Kheri/Bahraich (UP), Oct 13 Two children were killed in leopard attacks in Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich districts of Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Tuesday.
In the first incident, the mutilated body of a seven-year-old girl, Saniya, was found in Bojhiya village of Lakhimpur Kheri on Tuesday morning, hours after she was dragged away by a leopard from outside her house, police officials said.
The incident took place in the Padhuva police station area on Monday evening. The area falls under the Dhaurahra forest range of the Dudhwa buffer zone.
Saniya was playing outside her house around 7 pm on Monday when the leopard attacked her and carried her into the fields in its jaws, said the girl’s father, Sampati Giri.
Giri, along with other villagers, chased the leopard and attempted to search for his daughter, but in vain.
After receiving information about the incident, Mohit Pundeer, Station Officer of Padhuva police station, rushed to the village with his staff and launched a search operation, police said.
The operation had to be suspended till the morning due to the darkness and the tough terrain.
In the morning, the mutilated body of the girl was found in a sugarcane field. The body is being sent for post-mortem, police said.
Range Officer, Dhaurahra, Ashok Kumar Srivastava, confirmed the attack and said patrolling and combing operation in the area would be intensified.
He appealed to the villagers to stay alert in view of leopard movement in the area.
In Bahraich, a seven-year-old boy, Rohit, was killed in a leopard attack on Monday evening in Badhaiya village under the Kakarha Range of the Katarniaghat Wildlife Division, police said.
Forest Department officials said Rohit had gone towards a field near his home around 7.30 pm on Monday when a leopard hiding there attacked him.
Hearing the child’s screams, family members and villagers rushed to the spot.
Upon seeing people approaching, the leopard dragged the child into a sugarcane field. Villagers later found Rohit in critical condition. He died before he could be taken to the hospital, the officials said.
An immediate financial assistance of Rs 10,000 has been provided to the victim’s family. Formalities are being completed to provide the admissible compensation of Rs 5 lakh in accordance with the rules, said Apurva Dixit, Divisional Forest Officer, Katarniaghat Wildlife Division.
(PTI News)
