Bhubaneswar: Five days after Forest officials seized a leopard skin and arrested two persons in Odisha’s Kandhamal district, another leopard was found killed on Thursday.
According to sources, the dead body of the leopard was found floating by the local people in the reservoir water at Rengali near Kanthimal village under Riamal forest range of Deogarh district.
On being informed by the villagers about the leopard corpse officials from the Riamal forest range went to the reservoir and retrieved the body. They sent the body for post-mortem and launched investigation to ascertain the cause of its death.
On Friday, the Forest officials received the information that somebody was going to sell a leopard skin in Kalinga forest section and started patrolling. They found a youth, identified as Bhabani Shankar Pradhan of Malansuga village, standing on roadside with a bag.
They took Bhabani for questioning on suspicion. Bhabani revealed to them that some villagers had set a trap to capture boar in Badris forest one month back. But a leopard got trapped and the villagers shot it dead. Later, they skinned the leopard and preserved it for sale. He was waiting for a customer to buy the skin, he added.
The Forest officials arrested another person involved in killing the leopard and recovered the gun from his possession.
Also Read: Leopard Skin Seized, Two Arrested In Odisha’s Kandhamal | OdishaBytes
