Leopards on prowl in Budhal, Kotranka

Rajouri: A teenage girl on Saturday went missing while four villagers sustained injuries in two separate incidents of leopard-attack in Budhal and Kotranka area of Rajouri district.

Following the incidents, the authorities launched a major rescue operation in the upper reaches of Budhal to trace the missing girl.

   

Officials said that in the wee hours of Saturday, a teenage girl in Draj village left her house to attend to nature’s call yet she did not return. As she went missing, her family raised an alarm. Following it, the police teams from Budhal, wildlife authorities and locals from the area rushed to the spot.

“As per her family, as the teenage girl came out of her house, just a few minutes later some animals outside produced panicked sounds. The family immediately started searching for her. They also noticed foot prints of a leopard in the fields.” said officials.

“Primary evidence suggests that the teenage girl identified as Nasreen Akhter, daughter of Ghulam Sabir, resident of Draj, has been taken away by the leopard.”

“We, however, are further probing into the matter looking into all aspects,” said officials.

In a separate incident, four villagers present in the maize fields in Bathan village of Kotranka suffered injuries after a leopard attacked them.

The injured were identified as Saleema Akhter, wife of Zaffar Iqbal, Mohammad Shahid, son of Abdul Rashid, Bano Begum, wife of Mohammad Munir and Mohammad Iqbal, son of Kala Lohar.

The injured people said that they were sprinkling fertilizers in the maize fields at Bathan this morning when a leopard, hiding there, attacked them, leaving all of them injured.

“We have launched a rescue operation in the area as the teenage girl is still missing. Primarily we can say that she has been taken away by the leopard. But we are investigating other aspects also,” said SHO Budhal Mustaj Ahmed.

He said that four persons working in fields also received injuries in the attack by a leopard.

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