Leopard kills 5-year-old on CSTPS premises

Chandrapur: In the first human kill by a predator on Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station (CSTPS) premises, a leopard mauled to death a five-year-old girl in residential area while her mother watched in horror on Wednesday evening.
The incident took place on a road in the colony near Paryawaran Chowk at around 6.30pm. Victim Lavanya Dhandekar, daughter of a CISF jawan deployed at CSTPS, was playing by the roadside when the leopard jumped out of shrubby patch and whisked her away. Lavanya’s mother watching over her was shocked and started screaming in panic. Neighbours rushed behind the beast for rescuing the girl. The leopard dragged the girl for some distance and then fled leaving her behind. People rushed the badly injured girl to a local hospital, where she was declared brought dead.
Foresters led by RFO Rahul Karekar rushed to the spot to assess the situation. Forest department has alerted people and have increased patrolling in the area. Officials claimed they have installed camera traps for identification of the leopard and also placed two cages on strategic locations to trap the leopard.
CSTPS has been in the limelight for the last few years because of presence of multiple tigers. The vast premises having thick vegetation all around had always provided good shelter to wild animals. Good number of boars and dogs along with stray cattle living on the vegetative cover in the plant have proved good prey base for the predators.
While over five tigers had made CSTPS area their home, there have also been frequent sightings of leopards, bears and other wild animals.
Many leopards prowling CSTPS have been caged in the past. This is 21st human kill in the district in predator attacks this year. While 19 people have died in tiger attacks, two lives have been claimed by leopards. Last year, predators had killed 23 people in Chandrapur district.
Meanwhile, former forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and local MLA Kishor Jorgewar called upon the forest department to capture the leopard that has terrorized the residents in CSTPS.