Shahdol:

Three people were injured after a leopard attacked them in the South Forest Division Range in Madhya Pradesh’s Shahdol area on Sunday. The incident took place when a group of people were picnicking near the Son River in the Khitauli beat of Shahdol range.

The victims, attacked by the leopard, have been taken to a hospital, officials said.

A 30-second video clip, which was shot by one of the victims, is going viral on social media. It shows the leopard pouncing on the picnickers – who initially instigated the big cat.

The video starts with the group of people calling the leopard – who was lurking in the bushes – saying “aaja aaja” (come come) and taking a video. However, their fun and games quickly turned into horror after the leopard came running and pounced on them.

The big cat attacked two people and then dragged another person to the ground, trying to rip into him. The group of picnickers started screaming and can be heard yelling “bhaag” (run) in the video. Within seconds, the leopard ran away before the video cut off. 

According to sub-divisional forest officer, Shahdol, Badshah Rawat, another incident of a tiger attack had taken place in the area a few days back, following which they had advised people to not venture into the forests. 

“Advisory has been issued. We have asked officials to alert villagers and other people not to go into the forests. A control room has also been set up to help people in such incidents,” he said.

Bahraich:

A 14-year-old boy died in a leopard attack in Somaigaurhi village of Katarniaghat Wildlife Division of the district, officials said on Saturday.

The boy Arvind Kumar was attacked by the leopard around 7 pm on Friday when he went with his family to guard the maize field, said Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Katarniaghat Wildlife Division B Shivshankar.

The leopard left the teen and went towards the forest when the family members and villagers present nearby surrounded the leopard, he added.

The boy was rushed to a nearby government hospital, where he was declared dead.

The DFO said the post-mortem examination is underway and financial assistance will be provided to the family after legal formalities are completed.

Since April, there has been three deaths, including two children, related to human-wildlife conflict in Katarniaghat, said Shivshankar.

After the death of the two children in Dharmapur forest, three leopards have been rescued by setting up cages, he added.

The DFO said the department is very sensitive about the incident of Friday evening.

“We have made preparations to catch the leopard that attacked by setting up three cages around the village with the area being monitored 24 hours a day in three shifts of 8 hours each,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)