Missing girl’s skull recovered

Chandrapur: Forest department teams searching for 4-year old girl Khushi Hazare, who was taken away by a leopard, finally recovered her skull on Friday morning. Khushi had gone missing from her aunt's house in village Shirshi of Saoli tehsil on Monday evening.

The girl's aunt had claimed that the girl was taken away by a tiger. However, forest officials had failed to find any evidence corroborating her claims. Officers even had doubts over the blood stained and shredded frock of the girl recovered in the fields. However, search operations for the girl continued with the help of Saoli police. PSO Saoli Swapnil Dhule claimed that one of the search parties recovered a skull and some maggot ridden leftover flesh in a tur field on Friday morning.

Foresters also recovered scat of a leopard from the spot, which confirms the girl was killed by a wild animal. Police doctors have confirmed that the skull belongs to small girl and have collected samples of hair and skull for forensic examination, Dhule said. RFO, Saoli range, GV Dhade confirmed that forest department is treating it as a case of leopard kill. He claimed that there is presence of leopard in the area, and they have seen pug marks as well as scat of the beast, to confirm its involvement in the kill.