Two injured in East Champaran leopard attack

Motihari: Two men were seriously injured after a stray leopard from the Valmikinagar Tiger Reserve (VTR) forests mauled them in separate attacks in East Champaran’s Ramgarhwa police station area where the animal has been on the prowl for the past week.

The victims are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Raxaul while villagers remain gripped by fear as the leopard has also killed several goats.On Thursday night, the leopard struck again, attacking three people in Bhediharwa and Bilashpur villages. In the first incident, it pounced on 54-year-old Nagendra Sahani while he was sleeping in his cowshed in Bhediharwa, leaving him seriously injured. Later, in the Dharminia railway station area of Bilashpur, 47-year-old Sheik Jabbar was mauled in a similar attack.

Both were rushed to hospital where doctors described their condition as stable.Villagers said the leopard had been sighted repeatedly around the Dharminia railway halt and Murala sareh. “The forest department has been informed by police and railway officials but nothing has been done,” said Sarfuddin Alam of Murala.Divisional forest officer (DFO) of East Champaran, Raj Kumar Sharma, said measures have been intensified to capture the animal. “Forest department personnel have been deputed in the area round the clock, and I have personally visited the sites where the leopard was seen or attacked villagers. We are doing all possible networking to catch the leopard within a day or two to restore peace in the area,” he said.Sharma added that the leopard has been sheltering in cane fields during the daytime, making its capture difficult.