Leopard kills 8-year-old boy on outskirts of Chandrapur
Sources have also said that eight-year-old Pratik Bawne was playing near his maternal grandfather's house.
Chandrapur: A child has died due to a leopard attack late on Wednesday in the residential area of the conflict-ridden Neri ward of Durgapur gram panchayat, outside the city.
Sources have also said that eight-year-old Pratik Bawne was playing near his maternal grandfather’s house. At that moment a leopard came out of the thick thorn bushes nearby and took it away at around 8.30 pm that night. After that, the villagers found the boy’s body after an hour across the drain flowing nearby. This leopard had ripped off the boy’s head and eaten a part of it.
The deceased Pratik Bawne family lives in Bhadravati and was in Durgapur to attend the last rites of the grandfather. On Thursday, when the family members were busy preparing for the last rites, the leopard killed Pratik Bawne.
Even before this, a 16-year-old boy had also died due to a leopard attack on the date of February 17 in Durgapur of the same area, due to which there was a lot of outrage. After the death of the deceased, NCP leader Nitin Bhatarkar also went on an indefinite hunger strike. The forest department had then ordered the tigers to be pacified at the CSTPS and around four cages were also set up in the conflict zone of Durgapur to capture the problem leopard. However, this leopard still comes out despite being trapped in cages.
Leopard and tiger attacks
Nitin Bhatarkar has said that this latest murder has angered all the people very much. Angry residents have categorically refused to lift the boy’s body until the forest department takes more concrete measures to check the leopard menace in Durgapur. He has also claimed that in the last three years, around 12 people of Urjanagar and Durgapur have been killed in leopard and tiger attacks and the 13th homicide has taken place in the region. He has also demanded an order to pacify the leopards in this area.
For a long time, the body of the deceased boy remained there, while the local people protested a lot about it. RFO Rahul Karekar and DFO Chandrapur Prashant Khade had reached the spot to pacify the crowd and persuade them to lift the dead body.
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