A tragic incident occurred at Sanjaynagar in Arjuni Morgaon tehsil, where a five-year-old boy was killed in a leopard attack around 5:30 am on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as Ansh Prakash Mandal (5). According to reports, Ansh had gone out to the front yard to urinate with his grandmother, Archana Zhodu Mandal. While she briefly stepped away to fetch water from the bathroom, a leopard suddenly pounced on Ansh, grabbed him by the neck, and dragged him away. Hearing Ansh's cries, his grandmother rushed out and saw the leopard pulling him toward nearby fields. As she screamed for help, neighbors quickly ran to the spot. On seeing them, the leopard abandoned the child and fled.
Ansh was seriously injured. Villagers rushed him to the Primary Health Centre at Keshori, where doctors declared him brought dead. According to Dr. Pinku Mandal, the child may have died en route to the hospital. The health centre staff informed the forest department and local police immediately after the incident. As information about the fatal attack spread, villagers from Sanjaynagar gathered at 7 am and staged a rasta roko on the Keshori-Nawegaon road, demanding swift action from authorities. Notably, this is the second leopard attack on a child in the region within a month. On August 29, a four-year-old boy was seriously injured in a leopard attack near the Itiyadoh Dam.