Assam: 7-year-old boy dies in alleged leopard attack

Guwahati, April 25 (IANS) A minor boy was allegedly killed by a leopard in Assam's Dibrugarh district, officials said on Tuesday.

The seven-year-old boy, who was a resident of Satishpur Garden, had gone missing on Monday. Later, the police said a minor boy's body was found in a woodland.

The deceased boy's family members said that he had visited a local market on Monday afternoon, and had gone missing from there. After an extensive search for 10 hours, his body was found with several injury marks.

Dibrugarh district Superintendent of Police, Shwetank Mishra, said, "It is anticipated by the locals that the child was killed by a leopard, but we can surely say so after the forest department investigates the scene."

"There is a major cut close to his neck that appears to be the result of an animal attack. Forest officials said that it might be a leopard as tigers are not common in the area," Mishra added.

Meanwhile, the child's family members claimed that even 12 hours after the incident, no forest department officials had shown up at the scene.

"Locals had previously reported the passage of wild animals in that area to the forest department, but no preventative steps were taken. We lost our child as a result of such lapses," they said.

The forest department has not yet issued an official statement regarding the incident.

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