Manendragarh (Chhattisgarh): A leopard has killed a man on a farm adjacent to a forest near compartment 1341 of Kunwari beat of Janakpur forest range under Manendragarh forest division, a forest official said. The incident is said to have occurred around 5 pm on Sunday. The man who died was identified as Ramdavan.
Upon getting the information about the incident, the team of the forest department rushed to the spot and sent the body for post-mortem. A team of officials from various divisions has reached to catch the leopard.
Sarguja Wildlife Forest Conservator K R Badhai said, "There are three incidents of death, including two deaths in the Janakpur forest range due to leopard attacks, reported so far. In view of those incidents, the forest department has installed cages and trap cameras to catch the leopard. But still failed to catch the leopard."
"We have received permission from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) to catch the leopard by tranquilising it. Expert team of doctors have also reached here and efforts are on to catch the leopard at the earliest," he added.
Recently, on January 3, a woman died due to a leopard attack. So far, three people have died, while a child sustained injuries, since December 2022 due to leopard attacks under the Manendragarh forest division.
These continuous leopard attacks have become a big concern for the residents of villages in Janakpur and Manendragarh forest divisions. Earlier, the leopard was hunting the cattle but now humans are falling prey. Two people have lost their lives in its attack. After the man died, the villagers surrounded the forest rangers and demanded that the man-eater be killed. The villagers threatened to perform the last rites of the dead body of the youth killed in the leopard attack only after the big cat is killed.
Janakpur villager, Karanran Daman Baiga said that when he was returning home from a visit to his crop in the fields, the leopard suddenly appeared and attacked a 65-year-old woman, Fuljaria Bai. The surprise attacks of wild animals were terrifying. Chhapra Tola area resident Suresh and another woman Umabai were attacked leading to their death on the spot.
The forest department is continuously announcing in rural areas that the man-eater is roaming in the area. Cages and trap cameras have also been installed to catch the leopard. Hundreds of villagers including the Forest Department team and DFO and SDFO of Janakpur are also present at the spot along with PCCF Wildlife from Raipur and Dr Chandan.
A large number of police forces have been deployed in the area after these incidents. Rural Zilla Panchayat member Ravi Shankar Singh along with representatives of Aam Aadmi Party women's wing president Sukhmanti Singh are present. The villagers have been geared up with wooden sticks, spears, and sickles with them. On the other hand, the forest department has taken steps so that the leopard should not be harmed in any way.
