Leopard kills guard, devours private parts

The body of a 52-year-old man was found on the outskirts of Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Bhandup (east) on Thursday morning, with his genitals devoured. Forest officials said that a set of marks found on the corpse suggested that the deceased, Anthony Fernandes, had been mauled to death by a leopard. Fernandes was employed as a security guard with a private firm that is setting up a municipal sewage project in the area. 

The number of human deaths due to leopard attacks has touched six this year – the highest in the last seven years during which the human-leopard conflict has seen sporadic incidents around the city.

The incident came to light around 8am on Thursday when company workers reported to work. They found a trail of blood right outside the company’s gates. “Later, the workers found Fernandes’s blood-splattered body bearing injury marks near a pipeline. His private parts had been gouged out and eaten by the animal,” said senior inspector JJ Jadhav of Mulund police station.

Forest department officials said they were alerted around 10.45am. “Our panchnama (inquiry] shows that marks on the victim’s body suggest it was a leopard. But we can confirm that after getting the post-mortem examination result,” said a forest official, adding that Fernandes had possibly met another colleague around 3am. “The attack could have taken place between 4am and 6am.”