Nuapada: The incident in which a woman allegedly was mauled to death by a leopard took a new turn with the forest department claiming she was not killed by a leopard.
Bhanobai Majhi (47), a resident of Chhotlora under Bharuamunda panchayat in Sadar block of Nuapada district, was killed by a bear, forest department claimed Saturday.
But the villagers and the deceased’s family members are not in a position to buy the forest department’s claim. They are reiterating it that it was a leopard that killed her.
Meanwhile, the forest department has announced Rs 4,00,000 financial assistance to the kin of the deceased.
Notably, Bhanobai had gone to the nearby jungle to collect cashew apple at 11:00 pm Thursday. After she did not return home till evening, her family members started searching for her. They spotted from a distance that her wounded torso was lying close to a nullah. And they also saw a leopard sitting near the body. Hearing the animal’s roars, the terrified villagers returned to the village, without bringing the body back.
Since the area is a Maoist-infested area, the police and the forest department officials were also hesitant to go to the forest to recover the body. The body was recovered Friday and was handed over to the family following a postmortem the same day.