In a shocking incident, a man had to kill a leopard in order to save his family in Karnataka’s Hassan district. As per reports, Rajagopal Naik, a resident of Bendekere village in Arasikere taluk, was riding his motorbike back home with his wife and child when the leopard came out of nowhere and leapt at them from behind the bushes.
The leopard was able to get ahold of the the child, biting his leg and also tried to attack the wife, that's when Rajagopal intervened and grabbed the animal by its neck and hit it on the head. While Rajagopal was trying to save his famuly, the leopard tried to break free and swiped at him once, but he did not let go of the hold around its neck. Rajagopal grabbed the leopard’s neck tighter out of survival and it eventually died of suffocation.
In the fight off, Rajagopal suffered few injuries on his face and forehead. After a while, people gathered around him as he sat next to the corpse of the leopard.
A video of the incident has gone viral on social media platforms. Netizens hailed Rajagopal as the ‘real-life George Kutty’, based on the character from Drishyam 2.
Deputy Conservator of Forest (Hassan division) K.N. Basavaraj said, “Prima facie investigations reveal that the leopard had been attacked with sickle also as there were two or three cut marks visible on its body. We are yet to receive an autopsy report and the real cause of death can only be ascertained based on this report.” The forest department has registered a case and further investigation is on.