A 12-year-old boy was killed after a leopard pounced on him from a bush and dragged the child away in Jalpaiguri district on Tuesday evening.

Ashmit Roy was returning from a shop to his residence at Dakshin Kherkata village in Nagrakata block when the animal attacked him.

Ashmit is the fourth child to be killed in leopard attacks in the district since October last year.

After the leopard dragged Ashmit away around 6.30pm, local people rushed in and started a search for him. Soon after, they found the boy bleeding in a bush. He was rushed to the rural hospital in Sulkapara, where doctors pronounced him dead.

In October last year, a leopard killed a minor girl in the Kherkata area of the block. In July and August this year, leopards killed two minor boys at Kalabari in Banarhat block and Kuthabari in Nagrakata block, respectively.

Mom, cubs rescued

A leopard and its two cubs were rescued from Mirik by Kurseong forest division and the wildlife squad stationed in Sukna on Tuesday.

The animals were stuck in an abandoned water reservoir at Raidhap in Kawley, which is adjacent to the Mirik bypass.

Sources in the forest department said Kawley residents first spotted the female leopard and its cubs on Sunday.

“We found that the animals had taken shelter at Raidhap and did not move on Monday afternoon either. We informed foresters to take necessary steps,” said a resident.

That area is under the jurisdiction of the Kurseong forest division’s Bamanpokhri range.

A team of foresters inspected the spot yesterday (Monday) afternoon, but due to intense rain and fog, they failed to trace the animals. Then they informed the wildlife squad in Sukna.

The squad members placed a cage at the spot by evening. Early on Tuesday, some locals found the leopard in the cage.

Forest officials located the cubs, six to seven months old, nearby. They have been kept under observation in Sukna.

“It was a full-grown female leopard aged around six years. It seems that as the area is abandoned and is on the outskirts of the town, the animal had taken shelter there with its cubs,” said a forester.

“The animals will be released into the wild,” the forester added.