A four-year-old boy, Aakil was killed by a leopard on the outskirts of Jasawala, five kilometers away from Kaliyar police station (Roorkee), Haridwar on Friday noon, said Haridwar SP Rural Pramender Dobhal.
Aakil was taken to field by his father Sameem where he was working in his field, located in Jassawala area, near the forest.
The leopard leapt on the boy who was playing in the field at noon some 10/15 metres away from the field where his family members were working and dragged him away.
Hearing his scream, the family members ran behind the leopard. The big cat left him and escaped into the forest nearby. However, the boy had died by then.
The body was recovered and sent for postmortem, said Kaliyar police station in-charge sub- inspector Pramod Uniyal.
According to villagers, there are four or five leopards stalking around the nearby forest areas. They come towards the village to prey on the blue bulls, they said.