A herd of wild elephants entered Dakshin Kherkata in Jalpaiguri district on Friday, days after a leopard had killed a girl and multiple sightings of the animal at the village.

On October 19, Sushila Goala, a 12-year-old girl, was attacked by a leopard. The animal dragged her away and later, her body was found in a nearby forest.

After the girl's death, the forest department placed two cages at the village in the Nagrakata block.

On Monday, a leopard was trapped in one of the cages. The foresters tranquillised the animal and took it away.

In the past couple of days, more leopards were spotted at Dakshin Kherkata.

The foresters went to the village and confirmed the presence of two leopards. They have placed cages in the area to trap the animals.

With the villagers being worried over the presence of leopards, they faced a fresh challenge on Friday morning when a herd of wild elephants entered Dakshin Kherkata from the neighbouring Kherkata forest.

The elephants were on a paddy field to devour the crop and a section of villagers rushed in to send the herd back to the forest.

“We could steer the elephants back to the forest but suddenly, a member of the herd charged at us and three persons were injured," said Bandha Oraon, a resident of Dakshin Kherkata.

Bir Bahadur Mangar, Sukha Oraon and Patiram Oraon were the injured trio and were taken to the rural hospital in Sulkapara. The three were later referred to the super-specialty hospital in Malbazar where they are still under treatment.

“We were already concerned with the leopards and now, wild elephants have started entering the village in search of fodder. The forest department should take prompt action as most of us are spending sleepless nights now,” said a villager.

A forester said: "We laid traps to catch leopards. We are also keeping a watch on elephants."

After the girl was killed, panicky villagers refused to let their children go out of home to play or study. More leopards had been sighted on Wednesday.