Abducted by leopard, boy found dead, mutilated in forest in UP

Balrampur, Uttar Pradesh: The mutilated body of an eight-year-old boy, who was taken away by a leopard in Belwa village of Sohelwa forest area, was found in the bushes here, forest department said on Friday.

District Magistrate Arvind Kumar Singh has ordering the combing of the forest to catch the leopard. The forest department has deployed four teams for the purpose.

On Thursday evening, Jagdamba Prasad's son Vikas was sitting outside his house in Belwa village of Tulsipur tehsil when a leopard, hiding in the bushes, picked him in its jaws and ran away into the forest even as the villagers chased it upon hearing the screams of the boy, forest department said.

About an hour later, the villagers recovered the body of the boy with his throat slit in the bushes near a mountain drain.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Dr Sam Maran M, who visited the incident site to take stock of the situation, said that four teams of the Forest Department have been deployed to search for the leopard.

He said that the forest department has installed ten cameras and four cages for leopard tracking. DFOs of Barabanki and Siddharthnagar districts have been called for help.

DM Singh said that the post mortem of the boy's body is being done and as soon as the report is received, financial assistance will be given to his family.

Police and SDM have been instructed to remain in the village.