Man killed in big cat attack in UP's South Kheri Forest

A big cat attacked and killed a 45-year-old man in Maheshpur range of south Kheri forest division on Monday morning, officials said.The body of the youth was recovered from near the Sharda canal branch, where movements of tigers and leopards have been reported.The area is close to Maheshpur range forests of south Kheri forest division, they said.

A big cat attacked and killed a 45-year-old man in Maheshpur range of south Kheri forest division on Monday morning, officials said.The body of the youth was recovered from near the Sharda canal branch, where movements of tigers and leopards have been reported.The area is close to Maheshpur range forests of south Kheri forest division, they said. The deceased youth was identified as Rajesh Kumar Verma, a resident of Belwa village under Hyderabad police limits in Kheri district. Sanjay Biswal, divisional forest officer, south Kheri confirmed the human casualty in a big cat's attack. He, however, said that it was yet to be ascertained if the errant big cat was a tiger or a leopard. He said pugmarks at the spot would be collected and observed to identify the big cat and added that patrolling teams have been instructed to keep watch over the movements of the big cat and drive it back to the forest area. About the incident, DFO Biswal, who rushed to the spot and inspected the scene, said deceased youth Rajesh Kumar was reported to have gone to his sugarcane fields near the canal outside his village to attend nature's call where a big cat attacked and killed him. He said victim's body had been sent for a postmortem examination and appropriate aid would be provided to the aggrieved family as per rules. Villagers had been asked to be on alert as it was the sugarcane harvesting season and big cats might be sheltering in the fields, close to reserved forest areas.