A village on the edge of the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh, witnessed a chilling incident. A leopard attacked a woman sleeping on her rooftop at night, dragging her down into the bushes. The villagers, alerted by her children’s cries, found her body in a severely injured state some distance from the house. The attack has incited fear throughout the village, with urgent calls for the leopard's capture.
The unfortunate victim, Zaheera, 48, was resting on the roof with her children on the night of the 25th-26th when the leopard unexpectedly emerged from the jungle at around 1:45 AM and attacked her. Her children, sleeping beside her, were too stunned to respond as the leopard grabbed Zaheera by the throat, dragging her down into the bushes where it fatally mauled her.
Her family's cries summoned help, leading villagers to discover Zaheera's body in the bushes. Local law enforcement and forest department officials, including Police Chief Harish Singh and Katarniaghat Range's SDO, promptly arrived at Ayodhya village. They recovered the body and sent it for post-mortem. Villagers, now living in fear, are outraged and insist that the forest department must capture the dangerous leopard quickly.
Pertaining to the incident, village resident Shiv Prasad Maurya reported that around 1:50 AM, a young girl yelled. Upon investigating, they were informed that the girl's mother had been taken by a leopard. The group chased after the predator, but it managed to escape, leaving behind a tragic scene.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) B. Shivshankar from Katarniaghat Wildlife Division explained that the leopard attacked while the deceased was sleeping with her children on the roof. Despite a confrontation between the two, the woman fell, and by the time forest personnel arrived in response to the distress call, she had already succumbed to her injuries.
