Aurangabad, Dec 17:
In a bizarre incident, a man escaped unhurt from the jaws of death, after a leopard attacked him, during broad daylight on Patoda-Naigaon road on Thursday afternoon. The leopard pounced on him while the victim was passing through an unpaved way, from a sugarcane field. Incidentally, the victim fell to the ground, but the crackling sound of a speeding motorcycle panicked the leopard and saved him.
It is learnt that the victim Janardhan Tukaram Panchal (49, Bakwalnagar) is into a furniture business. Following an assignment (of furniture), he along with labour, went to Walmi, on December 16 morning. Later on, he felt the need for a drill machine to complete the work on hand, therefore, he alone was proceeding on his bike towards Bakwalnagar through Patoda-Naigaon Road, to bring the machine. While he was passing through a secluded unpaved road from a sugarcane farm at 12.15, the leopard hiding in the field suddenly waged an attack on him, but Panchal escaped unhurt as the speed of the bike was high. However, he fell to the ground as he lost control of the bike. After felling of the bike on the ground, the accelerator got stuck to the ground and the sound of the vehicle got doubled. Panchal saw the leopard standing at a distance away. Panicked by the vehicle sound, the leopard, ran away in the direction of Patoda. On other hand, Panchal leaving the vehicle ran towards the direction of Naigaon. After crossing a distance of half a kilometre, Panchal informed his friend Dnyaneshwar Wanarse. He then went to take his bike only after confirming that there is no leopard.
Meanwhile, the alert residents of Naigaon and Bakwalnagar including Salim Shaikh, Shankar Rathod, Raosaheb Bhujang, Ram Jadhav and Raju Mithe along with Panchal went to Waluj police station. The police then contacted the forest officials. The team comprising a forester Satish Kale and forest guard R H Muley visited the spot in the evening and also obtain details from Panchal.