Coimbatore: A 4-year-old girl was mauled to death by a leopard in the Valparai hill station area here, police said on Saturday.
The deceased, Absar Khatoon, the daughter of Ainul Ansari, a migrant labourer from Jharkhand, was attacked by a leopard while she was playing near her home in Oosimalai Estate.
Police said the family of Ansari has been living in the labour quarters of Valparai Police Station, Oosimalai Mattam Vazhappadi Estate, for the past year.
On Saturday, Ansari and his wife were at their house as they did not go to work due to a death incident in their area.
“At around 1.30 PM, their daughter Absar was playing outside her house when a leopard suddenly appeared at the tea estate and mauled her. When her mother saw this, she tried to rescue her but couldn’t,” said a police officer.
When the locals heard the screams, they rushed to the spot and found the child dead in a bush about 700 meters away from her home.
Meanwhile, an investigation is being conducted under the leadership of Valparai Police Station Sub Inspector Palani regarding. The body of the deceased child has been sent to Valparai Government Hospital for a postmortem.
Similar Past Incident
This is not the first such incident in Coimbatore. Another minor girl, S. Nancy, was killed by a leopard near Gudalur on January 6. She was attacked by the leopard when she was returning from an anganwadi centre with her mother at Perungarai in the Mango Forest Range. She also hails from Jharkhand.
Later, MP A Raja made arrangements to airlift her body to the native state and paid for the ticket expenses of the parents.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had announced ex-gratia of `10 lakh to the family.
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