LAKHIMPUIR KHERI: The mutilated body of a seven-year-old girl was found in a village here on Tuesday, hours after she was dragged away by a leopard from outside her house, police said.
The incident occurred in Bojhiya village under the Padhuva police station area on Monday evening.
The area falls under the Dhaurahra forest range of the Dudhwa buffer zone.
Saniya was playing outside her house around 7 pm on Monday when the leopard attacked her and carried her into the fields in its jaws, said the girl's father, Sampati Giri.
Giri, along with other villagers, chased the leopard and tried to find his daughter but in vain.
After receiving information about the incident, Mohit Pundeer, Station Officer of Padhuva police station, rushed to the village with his staff and launched a search operation, police said.
Police had to suspend the operation until morning due to darkness and tough terrain.
In the morning, the mutilated body of the girl was found in a sugarcane field.
The body is being sent for post-mortem, police said.
Range Officer, Dhaurahra, Ashok Kumar Srivastava, confirmed the attack and said patrolling and combing operations in the area would be intensified.
He appealed to villagers to stay alert due to leopard movement in the area.