11-month-old infant allegedly dies in leopard attack in Daund tehsil

Anvit Bhise - the 11-month-old baby boy of a shepherd family temporarily residing at a farm in Dahithane village of Daund tehsil in Pune - died in a leopard attack, the family has claimed.

- Gayatri Vajpeyee

PUNE: According to Anvit's mother, she saw the leopard dragging her child early in the morning on April 30. Forest officials suspect this may be a fake claim as no traces of a leopard attack were found during the search operation.

Deepak Pawar, assistant conservator of forests, Pune forest department, said, "There is an area of around 700 to 800 hectares under open farming where the incident is said to have occurred. The shepherd family was sleeping in the open field when the leopard allegedly dragged the baby boy. The mother claimed that she saw the leopard dragging her child. Around 100 people have been deployed since the morning as part of this search operation. A canine squad and thermal drones too have been deployed but we haven't found a single trace of the leopard attack, yet. The investigation is still underway."