Shoot-at-sight order issued for leopard in Shirur after 13-year-old boy’s death, Pune-Nashik highway blocked as anger spills to road

An official said one team of shooters has reached the area and two more are expected to reach by evening. The roadblock, which led to the police diverting traffic on the highway, came a day after the boy’s death in the Pimparkhed village of Shirur taluka Sunday afternoon. in the Pimparkhed village of Shirur taluka Sunday afternoon.

The victim, Rohan Vilas Bombe, was the fifth casualty in leopard attacks in the Pune district this year. This was also the second death in a leopard attack in the Pimparkhed village and the third in the area this month.

After the incident, angry villagers set the forest department vehicle and the office of the department’s Rapid Response Force on fire. The situation remained tense as the police were deployed to maintain law and order.

Prashant Dhole, Deputy Superintendent of Police, said, “The residents have staged a road blockade on the Pune-Nashik highway from 10 am. We have deployed the full strength of local police formations in the area, while the traffic on the highway has been diverted from other roads. We are closely monitoring the situation.”

In the previous two incidents, on October 12, Shivanya Shailesh Bombe, 5, was killed in a leopard attack in the Pimparkhed village. On October 22, a 70-year-old woman, Bhagubai Rangnath Jadhav, was killed in the Jambut village, just 7 km away.

In April, an 85-year-old woman was killed in a leopard attack in a village in the Shirur taluka. In the last week of September, a six-year-old boy who was studying in the open space in front of his house in a village of Junnar taluka was killed by a leopard.

In 2024, the Pune district reported eight deaths, including five of children, from human-leopard conflicts. This marked the second-highest death toll in a single year over the past 20 years.

Following consecutive incidents of human-leopard conflicts last year, the forest department issued a red alert for 13 villages within a 5-square-km area in the Junnar taluka. Residents in these villages were advised to avoid going outside before 9 am and after 5 pm.