15-year-old school boy dies in leopard attack

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

In a tragic incident, a 15-year-old boy died in a leopard attack within the premises of Anand Maharaj's ashram, near Bhambarwadi (in Kannad tehsil) on Tuesday night. The deceased boy has been identified as Rishikesh Vilas Rathod (Bhambarwadi). A pall of gloom has descended on the village due to his accidental death.

Rishikesh along with his parents had gone to Anand Maharaj's ashram near the village for a ‘satsang’ (religious discourse) on Tuesday night (June 25). Around 8 pm, he went outside the ashram for a urinal and did not return even after the Satsang ended. This concerned his parents and villagers who then searched for him throughout the night in the village but couldn't find him.

When the search resumed today (on Wednesday) at around 7.30 am, they spotted Rishikesh lying in a blood-soaked state in a 100-foot-deep ravine, 500 metres from the ashram. His body showed claw marks from a leopard. He was rushed in critical condition by his relatives to the rural hospital in Kannad, where the medical officer, Dr Suhas Kulkarni, declared him dead upon examination.

Upon learning of the incident, the assistant police inspector (Kannad rural police station) Dr Ramchandra Pawar and forest department personnel rushed to the spot, conducted a panchanama, and registered the incident. Rishikesh is survived by his parents, a brother, two sisters, and his uncle and aunt.

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Well-known as a brilliant student

Rishikesh was a ninth-grade student at Sane Guruji School in Kannad and was well-known in the school for being extremely intelligent. He used to commute daily from his village to Kannad for school. Since his home had a religious environment, he had been visiting the ashram for Satsangs with his parents since childhood.