East Champaran, September 11 (HS). Fear and panic prevailed among the villagers after a leopard-like animal was sighted in Dariyapur village, ward three of North Madhubani Panchayat of Sangrampur block of the district late on Tuesday night.
It has been told that an animal like a leopard climbed on the veranda of Monaf Khan's house in Dariyapur village. To save their lives, the family members closed the door, then on their shouting and commotion, dozens of villagers armed with sticks and spears chased the leopard away. A woman of the same village, Pankali Devi, wife of Yadav Lal Yadav, saw the leopard in the bushes near North Baswari of Neeraj Dubey's house on Wednesday at around 11 AM. According to the villagers, the leopard is still hiding in the village Baswari. The villagers are scared of some untoward incident.
North Madhubani Panchayat Panchayat Samiti member cum villager Nusrat Fatma, Bablu Khan, Neeraj Dubey Pyare Khan etc told that all the villagers united at night and chased away the animal, which was hiding in the bushes in front of Neeraj Dubey's house on Wednesday. The forest department has been informed by the villagers. Forest department's deputy premises officer Dharmendra Kumar said that by looking at the footprints it will be identified whether the animal is a leopard or some other animal. The same woman Paan Kali Devi who has seen the animal identified it by showing the photo in the album and she identified it as a leopard. Currently the forest department is engaged in identifying the animal from its footprints and catching it.