AHMEDABAD: A leopard had sneaked away a 7-year-old boy into a sugarcane farm and killed him on Monday night. The boy's family found his body hours after the incident, with the help of locals and forest officials, and sent it for the post-mortem.
The family had migrated from Nandurbar to Uskar village of Mandvi Taluka in Surat District in search of work. The couple and other migrated labourers had gotten a job at a sugarcane farm in the village. The couple had camped on the outskirts of the village.
Monday night, when the family was sleeping outside their settlement, a leopard dragged their son, Ajay, into the farm. When the Lalsinh Vasave family woke up, they noticed their son was missing and started searching for him. The family found the leopard's pug marks near their house and immediately informed the village sarpanch, said V R Chosla, Police Inspector.
When Chosla and forest officer H J Vanda with his team began to search for the boy, they found a body in a sugarcane farm just 300 meters away from the settlement. Police sent the body for postmortem.
On the other hand, forest department put up 10 cages to capture the leopard. A few hours later, the leopard turned up in search of left overs and fell into a trap set up by the forest department.
Vanda told the local media that the leopard will be sent to a rehabilitation centre and kept under observation. He added that the leopard will be released into the forest once it turns normal.
In recent past leopard attacks have increased in South Gujarat, In September, two girls were attacked in the Navsari district, both were treated in the hospital. Three persons were killed by leopards in 2023-24 in Gujarat. Between 2012-2020,109 persons were killed in leopard attacks in Gujarat.