A 53-year-old woman was dragged away and mauled to death by a leopard outside her house in a forested area of Maharashtra's Chandrapur district, an official said on Tuesday.
The incident took place late on Monday night when the victim Mandabai Sidam was sleeping outside her house in Virkhalchak village in Saoli forest range, some 56 km from the district headquarters, the senior forest officer from Chandrapur circle said.
The victim raised an alarm, following which the animal left her and escaped into the forest. But she died on the spot, he said.
Leopard pugmarks were found at the scene
While an official had earlier said that the woman had been attacked by a tiger, range forest officer of Saoli P G Virutkar said pugmarks of a leopard were found at the scene.
A 10-member team of forest personnel is patrolling the village to prevent another man-animal conflict. Apart from this, two cages have been installed in the vicinity to trap the animal, he said.
Forest officials and police reached the spot for inspection, chief conservator of forest Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar said, adding that an initial compensation has been given to the deceased woman's family.
According to sources in the forest department, eight persons have been killed in attacks by wild animals so far this year, and at least 53 had died in such attacks in Chandrapur last year.
