5-year-old girl mauled to death by leopard in Udaipur

Jaipur, Sep 26 (PTI) A five-year-old girl was mauled to death by a leopard in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district, police said on Thursday.

The leopard attacked Suraj on Wednesday evening in Majavad area of Gogunda town and dragged her to the fields, Gogunda Station House Officer Shaitan Singh said.

According to police, the villagers found the girl’s mutilated body on Thursday morning.

This is the fourth incident of leopard attack in the area within 10 days.

A 16-year-old girl was killed by the leopard on September 18, a man aged 50 years was mauled to death by the big cat on September 19 Thursday and a 40-year-old woman was killed supposedly by the same animal on September 20.

The incidents occurred at different locations in Gogunda, prompting the forest authorities to place five cages in order to capture the leopard that is believed to have taken shelter in the hilly area nearby.

SHO Singh said a team from the Indian Army has also been called to assist in the search operation, using drone cameras to monitor the entire area.

Teams from Rajsamand, Udaipur and Jodhpur are actively engaged in the search operation.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ajay Chittora, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Naresh Soni and others were also present during the search operation.

Two leopards were trapped by forest teams on Wednesday, officials said.

Meanwhile, agitated by the leopard attacks in the area, villagers along with Udaylal Katara of Bharatiya Adivasi Party staged a protest by blocking the Gogunda-Jhadol road by placing placing tree branches on the road.

They demanded immediate action to trap the leopard by installing cages in the area where the villagers live.