Leopard kills woman at Vadner Budruk village in Ahmednagar

PIMPRI CHINCHWAD: A 58-year-old woman died in a leopard attack at Vadner Budruk village in Ahmednagar’s Parner taluka in the early hours on Saturday.
Radhabai Vaze had gone out of the house to relieve herself, between 5.30am and 5.45am. Her mutilated body was found some time later.
“Radhabai Vaze and some neighbours went to answer a nature’s call at a spot just 50ft from her house.It was around 5.45am,” Balasaheb Chaudhary, a villager, said.
The neighbours returned soon, but there was no sign of Radhabai. “They tried looking for her. But when they did not find her for a long time, they informed others,” he said.
The villagers formed a search party and, armed with sticks, went looking for the elderly woman. “This is a leopard-prone area. Leopards are regularly sighted here. They have killed domestic animals like sheep, goats and dogs in the past,” he said.
After a short search, the search party found Vaze’s body parts scattered behind some thorny bushes. “Her severed head, one leg, arms and torso were found. Post mortem was conducted at 2pm at a government hospital in Parner town,” P S Jagtap, round officer of Parner range, said.
The village is located along Kukadi river, and sugar cane is grown on a large scale. The fields make for an ideal hiding place for leopards, a forest department official said.
Police and officials from the forest department conducted a panchanama, during which villagers were not allowed near the attack spot.