Two children killed in separate wild animal attacks in UP's Lakhimpur Kheri | Latest News India

The first incident occurred in Shardanagar forest area in South Kheri forest area.

A wild animal, said to be a leopard, took away a 12-year-old child named Sajeb from Gangabehar village while pushing his father's bike on Saturday evening.

The animal killed the child and his body was recovered later on Saturday evening in a sugarcane field about 500 meters from the village, police said.

The victim's father, Munavvar, said he carried bags of fertilizer to his village on his bike while his son pushed the bike to help him. The route led through dense sugarcane fields.

A leopard, which was hiding in a sugarcane field, came out of its hiding place and dragged Sajeb into the sugarcane fields, he added. After a frantic search, Sajeb's body was recovered from a sugarcane field.

Confirming the incident, South Kheri divisional forest officer Sanjay Biswal said forest teams had been sent to the spot and efforts were on to identify the wild animal, which may be a leopard.

The second incident occurred in Kurtaiha village under Padhuva police limits where three-year-old Riza Bano was killed in an attack by a wild animal. Her body was recovered floating in the Ghaghra river on Saturday. The village falls within the buffer zone of the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve.

Her mother said a wolf entered her home on Friday evening and took the child away from her. However, officials suspected that a leopard had attacked the girl.

Dudhwa field director Lalit Verma said the presence of wolves in the area had never been reported before.

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