Forest officials in south Garhwa division are clueless about which wild animal mauled to death a 45-year-old woman at her house in Ranka last week.

“The woman was sleeping alone at her house when she was attacked by the animal. It ate up her shoulders, neck and half of her face,” divisional forest officer (DFO) Aviroop Sinha told The Telegraph.

Asked whether the animal could be a tiger, “There is no history of any tiger lurking here. Therefore, there is not even any remote possibility of any tiger killing the woman,” Sinha said.

Asked if it could be a leopard, he said leopards usually eat soft tissues like the ones present in the lungs.

“Here the lungs of the woman were intact. Leopards also eat bones, but the victim’s bones had only minor scratches. I had a long discussion with the senior officials of Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun. They also could not say for sure whether a leopard had killed her,” the DFO said.

Sinha also ruled out the involvement of sloth bear that have a history of mauling humans in Garhwa and Palamau.

Mohan Lal, regional chief conservator of forest in Palamau, said: “There is no concrete evidence to suggest the woman was killed by a leopard. We have also not spotted any pugmarks. Shortly after this incident, we got a report of a calf being killed in Kurund village. It means a leopard many be lurking in the area, but we can’t conclusively say whether the woman was killed by a leopard.”

Sinha said a post-mortem had been conducted on the body and her family would be paid compensation.