The search for the mysterious animal that attacked four persons is not over in Ballia. It was on April 9 that four villagers under Bhimpura police station were left injured by an animal which forest officials suspect to be a fishing cat.

The efforts like caging and deploying extra staff to track the animal in the vicinity of Govindpura village under Biltra Road range of Ballia has not yielded any result. "We will deploy extra staff till the harvesting period of wheat is continuing," said RK Singh, DFO, Ballia.

The officials do not deny the presence of the animal as the villagers have sustained injuries and one of them was even seriously injured. Initially, the floating rumours suggested it to be a leopard. But since no pugmarks and no kills (animals killed to prey on) reported from the area it was difficult to confirm the type of the wild cat behind the attack.

The fact that the village does not have a forest in the range of 150 kms at least, there are lesser chances that it could be a leopard. The village lies in the the agricultural belt and with the wheat fields harvested clean, forest officials are hopeful there will be no space left for the animal to lurk. The animal has not been spotted by anyone and none have been attacked since April 9.