Jaipur: In another horrifying incident of leopard attack, one woman was attacked, mauled and killed today morning in the forest near Jhadol in Udaipur district. When villagers found her, her head was severed from her body.
Enraged villagers, who live in fear of increasing leopard attacks, blocked the Udaipur-Ahmedabad National Highway today. They refused to cremate the body and asked for Rs 51 lakh compensation.
According to police, three women including the one who was killed, had gone to the hilltop in the nearby forest in the Jhadol region, close to the National Highway 58 to get firewood. The leopard, waiting and hiding in the overgrown forest, suddenly attacked them.
Two of the women started shouting and fled, while the leopard caught hold of Mirabai, 40, by the neck and dragged her deep into the forest. The police said her body was found on the other side of the hilltop and the leopard seems to have dragged her at least one km into the forest. Mirabai is survived by her husband and two kids.
Wildlife experts say although leopards are reclusive by nature, they are increasingly venturing into human habitations due to loss of their habitat, dwindling prey base and poaching. Although this attack was in the forested areas of Jhadol.
At least six people have already lost their lives in leopard attacks in and around Udaipur and Rajsamand districts this year.
On 30th May, a two year old child was killed by a leopard in Delwara in Rajsamand district, a district adjacent to Udaipur district. On 23rd June, 55 year old Laxmilal was killed in Jhadol forest. On 29th June, a labourer Rann Singh, who was walking in Rajnagar area in Rajsamand district, was killed in the attack.
In August, a 10-year-old student was attacked and killed in Phalasia in Udaipur district. On 26 August, Rakma Bhil, 35, who took her goats for grazing was killed in Rajnagar in Rajsamand. And today Mirabai was the sixth victim.
Yesterday, panic had gripped a private hospital in Chomu near Jaipur as a leopard was seen loitering in its basement area and was caught on CCTV.
The CCTV footage shows the leopard jumping over empty beds and benches.
Leopard sightings have become common in and around Jaipur. In January this year, a leopard had strayed into Castle Kanota, a heritage hotel on Agra Road, and was spotted by the tourists when pet dogs in the hotel started barking. The tourists alarmed the hotel staff, who in turn informed the forest and wildlife department.
In 2019, a leopard had entered one of the renowned city schools, Sawai Man Singh Vidyalaya of Jaipur in the heart of the city and was caught on CCTV. Although the school was closed at that time, the leopard was seen prowling across the kindergarten section. Another such incident was reported from the city's Malviya Nagar area in December 2021.