In a mysterious way, a leopard was killed in the Haridapasi jungle of Tigiria under the Athagarh Forest Division on Saturday night.
Getting information from a villager on Sunday morning, Athagarh DFO Sasmita Lenka immediately rushed to the spot, seized the carcass and allegedly kept it in the Forester's office in Tigiria very secretly and warned the staffs of the department not to disclose the matter before the public and the media.
Intimating her bosses, the DFO sought their cooperation and, accordingly, in the presence of Conservator PK Mohapatra from Angul, postmortem of the carcass was conducted, followed by its burning in the Forester office premises at Tigiria.
Asked, DFO Lenka said the investigation is going on to disclose the reason of the death of the leopard.
As per reports from a private source, at least fifteen days ago, villagers of Haridapasi had intimated local forest officials regarding the presence of a leopard couple in the Haridapasi jungle, but the latter took the information lightly, saying it was a rumour.
However on Saturday night, when most of the forest officers had left the headquarters for their native homes, the poachers thought it appropriate to kill the leopard. They spread some live wires to poach the animal by electric shock.