A-40-year-old man was mauled to death by a leopard here on Tuesday night. Ramcharan Singh Rawat, a resident of Dhungri, Pauri district, was killed by the cat while he was returning home after closing his shop in Parsundakhal near Ghorikhal on Tuesday night. His body lifeless body was found on Wednesday morning, police said.
The body was badly eaten from chest, legs and on the neck. Since disclosure of Rawat’s death, local inhabitants have been residing under threat and sought forest department intervention for their safety.
The Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) has deployed a team for reccee and placed two cages nearby the village Dhungri and requested Chief Wild life warden to declare the leopard as man eater.
Talking to The Pioneer, Garhwal DFO Rajmani Pandey said that the exact location of the killing spot could not be traced on his inspection. As a part of precautionary measure officials have deployed forest staff nearby the village and place two cages so far. Two more cages will be place by Thursday.
Rawat was the first victim of the leopard attack in the year 2014-15. Meanwhile, 30 per cent monetary compensation has been given to the deceased wife and remaining will be paid after submission of final report. Meanwhile, we have sent a letter to Chief Wild life warden to declare this leopard man eater, so that the leopard could be killed to relief the villagers, Pandey added.
DFO said that there is a provision of compensation of Rs 3 lakh to killed person, Rs 25, 000 for injured and Rs 50,000 for seriously injured. Pandey said that four person were killed by leopard and 30 injured by different wild animals in the division in between April 13, 2013 to February 2014. The department has disbursed around Rs 35 lakh as compensation.