Police on Wednesday recovered a mauled body of a four-year-old boy, who was carried away by a leopard that strayed into Singli village, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Rajpur police station in Dehradun. According to forest department officials, the big cat was waiting in ambush for the family's pet dog around 10 pm on Tuesday when the boy and his mother came outside the house. The leopard attacked the boy in the courtyard of his house and carried him away. On being informed, police launched a combing operation along with the forest department to rescue the boy. "We were informed that that the boy — identified as Ayansh (4), the son of Arun Singh who is a resident of Singli village — was carried away by a leopard from the courtyard of his house, near Abhimanyu Cricket Academy which falls under the Rajpur police station limits. The senior superintendent of police of Dehradun immediately launched a combing operation to rescue the child," the Dehradun police said in a statement. On Wednesday morning, police recovered the boy's body around 100 metres away from his house. Vaibhav Singh, Mussoorie divisional forest officer (DFO), told The Indian Express, "The boy and his mother had come outside the house around 10 am on Tuesday to take their pet dog inside. The leopard was already waiting in ambush. and attacked the child and carried him away. On Wednesday morning, the boy's body was recovered around 100 metres from the house. Our team has also sighted the leopard — possibly a male. We, however, cannot confirm anything at this point." Efforts are underway to capture the leopard and release it in the jungle, said the forest department, adding that there are only two houses in the area where the leopard was sighted.
