Leopard attack
© Manoj Kumar
A leopard was thrashed to death after it strayed into Mandawar village in Sohna, 26km south of Gurugram, and injured eight people on Thursday morning. The leopard, a two-and a-half-year-old male, sneaked in around 8am and kept villagers on their toes till noon with the forest department failing to tranquillise it and or capture it with nets.

The first to be attacked was Sundar Bharadwaj, a 46-year-old farmer. "I was tending to my field when the animal attacked me," said Bharadwaj. He noticed the leopard crouching furtively amid tall grass, before it lunged at him. He slipped his arms between its jaws, grabbing them while trying to fend off its deadly bite. During the struggle, he sustained grievous injuries on his shoulder and chest. Villagers later admitted him in Sohna's Civil Hospital.

When Bharadwaj spoke to TOI, he had a blood-soaked sling across his shoulder. According to other villagers, the leopard was first noticed in the morning by two farmers, Sumeet (21) and Rajesh (23), as they were returning from their fields. In panic, the duo raised an alarm. Scared, the leopard leapt into the compound of the Government Primary School, Mandawar. Luckily, the school was closed. "When we approached the big cat in a group, it ran away and hid inside a mound of hay," Desh Raj, a 20-year-old villager, said.

Sundar was the first person to be mauled by the leopard.
Sundar was the first person to be mauled by the leopard.
The villagers informed police and forest officials, who arrived with nets. But when they tried to cast the nets to catch the animal, it slipped away and attacked other people. Eventually, it took refuge under a cot inside a house, growling and spitting at the crowd in anger. "I was in my field when the cat jumped on my back and sunk its teeth," 38-year-old Kunwar Pal said, tracing his wounds with his fingers. Angered by the attacks, the villagers attacked the cornered animal with sticks and axes. One villager, Rahul, tried to subdue it with his arms. Sensing the leopard's helplessness, villagers started beating the animal until it died.

Its corpse was later paraded through Mandawar before villagers staged a protest and blocked the Ballabhgarh-Sohna road for 15 minutes. "The animal could injure so many people and terrorise our village for so long because forest officials were so inept," said Seema, 42.

Villagers said it wasn't until 10am that the forest officials arrived. "The leopard was surrounded by an angry crowd of over 1,000 people, which couldn't have been managed," said M D Sinha, conservator of forests (Gurgaon circle). "My team had tranquilisers, but couldn't get a clear line of sight," he said. He added the animal was a healthy male. "Its body was taken for a post-mortem to Sultanpur, and will be cremated afterwards."