Nuapada: Barely a month after a four-year-old boy was mauled to death by a leopard, two persons including a minor girl were injured in an attack by a leopard in the same village Haladi under Khariar range in the district last night. Both have been admitted to district headquarters hospital.
The animal strayed into the village last night and attacked 55-year-old Dhanabai Pandey and her granddaughter Chandini (10) while they were asleep in their house.
Neighbours rushed to spot after hearing screams of the old woman and drove the animal away. Later, they informed the forest officials who launched a search operation to trace the leopard.
The leopard is suspected to be the same which had dragged four-year old Chhaganlala, son of Hiralal Pandey of the same village, into the nearest forest while he was asleep with his parents on the verandah of the house in May.
His parents found the son missing the following morning and searched for him. They spotted a series of blood stains leading towards the forest. They followed the blood marks only to find mutilated body of the child.
The heartrending incident had left the villagers scared.