Uttarakhand: Furious Mob Burns Alive Leopard Caught By Forest Officials, FIR Registered Against 150

In the act of agitation, a mob in a village in the Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand have burnt alive a seven-year-old male leopard captured by the state forest department. The incident happened in the presence of department officials on Tuesday.

As per the department administrators, the villagers were angry over the death of a 47-year-old woman who was killed by a leopard earlier this month. However, it is uncertain whether the leopard killed was the same as the one involved in the fatal attack on the woman.

A Woman Was Killed By Leopard

Nityanand Pandey, the Garhwal region conservator of forests, informed that a leopard mauled a woman identified as Sushma Devi in Saplodi village in the district on May 15. The forest officials placed cages in two different locations to catch the animal after the incident.

Pandey said, "On Tuesday morning, the forest officials got information that a leopard had been caught in the cage. But when they went there, the angry villagers had already burnt the leopard alive," quoted Hindustan Times.

Incident Took Place In Presence Of Forest Officials

Mukesh Sharma, the Garhwal forest officer, informed that the department received the information on Tuesday, May 24, around 5:20 am that a leopard was captured in one of the cages, following which the officials rushed to the spot.

The officials tried to convince the locals, but the enraged mob led by the local village pradhan attacked the cage. They poured petrol, threw dry grass on the leopard and set him ablaze.

Sharma said, "The forest department officials tried to stop them, but the mob of Saplodi and three-four neighbouring villages was just too overwhelming for them," quoted The Indian Express.

FIR Registered Against 150 People

The forest department took the leopard's body into possession and later was sent for post-mortem. An FIR has been registered against the local village pradhan and 149 others under the Wildlife Protection Act and other relevant laws for taking the law into their hands.

Further investigation on why the villagers attacked the leopard is still ongoing.

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