Mutilated body found in Darjeeling town

DARJEELING: A suspected leopard attack on the outskirts of Darjeeling has spread jitters in the hill town, with the discovery of the partly chewed body of a man at Toongsoong village, on the upper fringes of the Darjeeling town. The body of 37-year-old Changba Sherpa was found by a man going to his morning walk to the Chowrasta. Different organs of his body had been chewed. Sherpa's wife Pete Bhutia managed to confirm that the dead body was that of her husband. She guessed her husband was attacked by a leopard. "The way the body has been damaged suggests a big wild animal, most probably a leopard, had attacked him. Our village is adjacent to the forest areas of Pandam and Tiger Hill," she said. Forest officials, however, are yet to confirm if the attack was indeed that of a leopard. "We have found some pug marks some 10 feet away from the spot where the body was found. 

But, we can only be sure if a leopard was involved after the postmortem report and further investigation," said ranger U S Tamang of the Wildlife Sinchel West Range. On the other hand, locals were sure that a leopard was involved in the attack. "I saw the body first when I was going to Chowrastha for my routine morning walk. It was entirely mauled. It can only be the doing of a leopard that does enter human habitat," argued Deepak Thapa, resident of the Jawahar Busty area. 

On December 27, another body was found near the spot in Jawahar Busty where Sherpa was found on Thursday. The body had bite marks of some animal. The same day a leopard was found inside a garage in the residential colony of Kakjhora. In-spite, of efforts by forest officials it had managed to escape into the forest below the Victoria Falls area, down town. Forest officials had then opinioned that the animal could have made its way to the town area through the 'jhora' (narrow stream) that connects the jungles of Pandam and Tiger Hill. Though,

 Toongsoong is more close to the town but it lies in between the two forest areas. Police officials too have said that the killing could be the work of an animal but refused to say if a leopard could have been involved. "We reached the spot after being informed by the residents. The body was badly eaten up which suggests that an animal could have done it. However, only after complete investigation can we say if it was a leopard or other animal," said L. T. Bhutia, inspector in-charge of Darjeeling sadar police station. Interestingly, some locals of the Jawahar Busty area claimed that they had seen blood on the mouths of some of the dogs of the area. "Pack of dogs can attack a person. 

Some of the dogs of our area had blood on their mouth," claimed Pasang Tshering. Forest officials though said that dogs A team of the Wildlife Squad from the Sukna Wildlife Division - I (experts in tracking wild animals) has been deployed in the Jawahar Busty area. As precautionary measure, a night long surveillance camp has set up near the incident spot. Traps and cages have also been laid.