Pune: A nine-year-old boy was killed in a leopard attack in front of his grandfather in a soybean field on Wednesday morning at Tejewadi village in Junnar , nearly 94km from the city. This was the sixth casualty in leopard attacks in the region since March this year. Rupesh Tanaji Jadhav, son of a brick kiln worker, was out in the backyard of his home near the field to defecate around 5am.
However, a power outage from the night before had cast complete darkness over the village. The leopard emerged from a sugar cane field adjacent to the soybean field and grabbed Rupesh by his neck, a forest department official said. The animal injured his head and dragged him back into the field.
The boy's grandfather tried to resist the leopard by screaming, but in vain. Villagers rushed out to help the boy and contacted the forest department. Its officials reached the spot at 6.
30am and started their search operation — involving over 35 staff members and range forest officer Pradip Chavan — using drone surveillance. At 7.30 am, the forest department officials found the boy's body with grievous injuries to his neck and head in the sugar cane field, 100m from the soybean field.
"The department has installed 10 trap cages and 10 camera traps to capture the leopard. There is a large population of leopards near the Kukdi river, especially close to Yedgaon dam where Tejewadi village is located. The leopard was spotted on both the drone and camera traps," said deputy conservator of forests Am.