The leopard mauled the boy to death while other boys fled, officials said.
A 10-year-old tribal boy was mauled to death by a leopard in Madhya Pradesh's Seoni district on Monday morning, officials said.
The incident occurred when a group of boys, all residents of Ghorlatola (Pandiwada), was playing on a road near the village.
Keolari area forest ranger SK Vanwale said the feline attacked the boys around 7 AM and grabbed one of them.
The leopard mauled the boy to death while other boys fled, he said.
Angered by the incident, villagers later reached the spot and tried to capture the big cat. One of them was injured during the melee, he said.
Meanwhile, Forest Development Corporation manager VC Meshram told PTI that a rescue team has been called from the Pench National Park to tranquilise and capture the leopard.
The villagers have surrounded the leopard from all sides. We are urging them not to harm the animal, he said.
This is the fourth such incident in the Seoni district within over two months.
Earlier on October 19, a 50-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard when she was cutting paddy with other women in a field in the Ugli area of the district.
On October 16, a 16-year-old girl was killed by a leopard in the Kanhiwada forest area near Pandiwada village. In a similar incident, a 50-year-old woman was mauled to death by a leopard near Mohgaon village under the Keolari block in the Seoni district on September 15.
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