Woman believed to be dragged away by leopard from UP village found in Uttarakhand

Bijnor (UP), Oct 23 (PTI) A day after a 20-year-old woman who was believed to have been dragged away by a leopard when she went to collect fodder from a nearby forest here, was rescued from Uttarakhand's Dehradun, police said.

The incident occurred on Thursday morning in the Nanheda village when Vinod Devi and her daughter Sakshi (20) had gone to the nearby forest, Nahatour Station House Officer (SHO) Dheeraj Nagar said.

When Sakshi went into the fields and did not return, locals raised an alarm, suspecting that a leopard had dragged her away.

The Forest Department immediately launched a search operation using drones to trace her. By evening, Sakshi called her family and informed them that she was in Dehradun, police said.

She was brought back from Dehradun on Friday and handed over to her family. According to police, Sakshi confirmed that she had gone to Dehradun on her own free will.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Jay Singh Kushwaha said such incidents create unnecessary panic and spread false fear about leopards in the area. PTI COR CDN OZ OZ