Postcard from a Mumbai village: Maneater killed, Murbad school to reopen today

The eight-year-old male leopard approached Kalomb village around 6.30 pm and leaped on to the home of the Kaularus from the back. Entering through the low roof, it attacked a buffalo. Forest Officer S Hirve immediately fired and shot the leopard dead, from his position about 90 feet away.

Assistant Conservator of Forests (Thane) Kishor Thakre, along with the Thane rural police, took the carcass for post-mortem to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

In 15 adjoining hamlets nestled amid monsoon-lush forests near Tokawade South Range, off Murbad taluka town, about 50 km from Kalyan city, it has been a nerve-wracking four to five days. The leopard appeared to have begun to attack humans and killed two people in separate incidents.

“Forest department officials set a trap to catch the big cat but it just would not come into their clutches for three days,” said Suhas More, a resident of the village.

First, a 54-year-old woman was attacked and killed on Friday evening. Then, on Sunday evening, barely 5 km from the spot where the woman was killed, Barku Bhau Bhoir, 52, a resident of Sonavale village, was killed while he was on his way home from the paddy fields.

The hamlets here are not used to getting so many visitors, so the over 100 men from the forest department patrolling the area only led to more tense moments, as people walked around in groups. The Tokawade South Range forest department office about 10 km away was also the hub of activity as villagers from a 10-km radius phoned in with queries and reported possible sightings.

Had the animal not been killed on Wednesday, forest officers were hoping to requisition a drone camera to locate it. On Wednesday evening, forest officers said the animal was almost 6 feet in length. “Everyone was thrilled that this nightmare has ended,” Thakre told The Indian Express.