An 11-year-old was mauled to death by a leopard that pounced on the boy in a tea garden in Alipurduar district, grabbed him by the neck with its teeth, and dragged him into a nearby drain on Thursday night.

Dipesh Oraon was loitering in front of his house on the Tasati tea estate near Falakata when the leopard attacked him around 7pm.

Some people who were nearby witnessed the attack. Armed with sticks, they chased the leopard that fled leaving the boy behind.

Dipesh was rushed to the state general hospital in Birpara. As his condition deteriorated, he was shifted to the Mainaguri block hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

Dipesh is the son of Birsa Oraon, a member of Falakata panchayat samiti. He is the second person to be killed by a leopard in Falakata block in one month.

Residents of the garden alleged that they had informed forest department officers posted in Madarihat and Dalgaon range offices about the attack on Dipesh, but they had turned up late.

A section of the residents raised a blockade on the Falakata-Birpara road disrupting traffic along the route for around two hours. The blockade was lifted after the foresters assured the agitators that they would put a cage to trap the animal.

Jaldapara wildlife divisional forest officer Sandeep Kumar Berwal said: “It was an unfortunate incident. The victim’s family will be given compensation according to rules.”

Leopard trapped

A wild leopard that had strayed into the Good Hope tea estate in Malbazar subdivision of Jalpaiguri district was trapped in a cage on Thursday night.

On Friday morning, workers and their families heard the growling of the animal and found that he had walked into the cage that had been put by the state forest department in the plantations of the garden.

The wildlife squad from Malbazar took the leopard to the Gorumara National Park.

“We are keeping the leopard under observation. It would be released in the wild in due course,” said a forester.

Residents of the garden said the leopard was taking away cattle and poultry from their quarters. “The forest department should put a cage again as we suspect there are more leopards in the garden,” said a worker.