MORADABAD: An eight-year-old boy from Moradabad’s Balapur village under Thakurdwara sub division was mauled to death by a wild leopard at a sugarcane field.The incident occurred on Monday morning when victim Shiva, along with his uncle Kuldeep Singh, was collecting fodder for his cows. The leopard then suddenly grabbed Shiva by his neck and dragged it along to the cane field.Later, Singh called for help after which two of his brothers reached the spot. After spotting the leopard, they attacked the animal with a stick and took Shiva to a hospital.However, the doctors declared Shiva brought dead. Doctors said he suffered grievous injuries on his neck and head.“Shiva and I were collecting fodder for our cows when suddenly a leopard jumped over and grabbed him by his neck and dragged him to sugarcane filed. I raised an alarm, and my two brothers—Ajay Kumar and Raj Kumar—immediately came to the rescue. We found the leopard at a sugarcane field and attacked it with stick. For 15 minutes we struggled to rescue Shiva. Later, we took Shiva to a district hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead,” Singh said.Angry with the boy’s death, villagers, along with the victim’s family, protested against the Moradabad administration and forest officials. Swayed by the protest, the officials announced Rs 15 lakh as compensation.Sub-divisional magistrate Veenta Singh said the forest officials have been told to catch the leopard immediately.“The compensation amount will be delivered soon to the family members of the boy. We are in constant touch with the forest officials, and will do our best to avert such kind of incidents in future. The higher authorities have instructed the forest officials to lay down an effective strategy to cage the leopard as soon as possible.”Giving out reasons behind such attack, district forest official Kanhiya Patel said, “In search of food and water the leopards move to human populated areas from jungle . They can easily hide themselves inside the sugarcane crops. Presently, the leopard is hiding at the village and residents have been asked to be alert until it is caught. We have installed cages, and hopefully it will get trapped soon.”

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