Nine-year-old boy carried off by leopard found alive in bushes near Chandrapur botanical garden
Karthik Jadhav, 9, was found injured and unconscious about two hours after a leopard took him on the way to the Mahakali temple; his condition is said to be stable.
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A leopard carried off a nine-year-old boy who was walking from Ballarpur to the Mahakali temple in Chandrapur, in an incident reported at about 10.30 pm. The injured boy is Karthik Jadhav, a resident of Shanti Nagar, behind the Ballarpur rural hospital. According to the information available, he had come to his aunt's house in Ballarpur from Hyderabad only two months ago.
Karthik's family and neighbours said at the spot that he had set out on foot for darshan at Mahakali with nine or ten others. A little beyond the Chuna Bhatti yatri shed, a leopard sitting on the wall of the botanical garden suddenly pounced and carried Karthik away. His companions shouted, but no one came to help. Some people present there began to run away.
The route had a large crowd of devotees chanting "Jai Mata Di". Some brave people among them gathered courage and began searching for the boy in the thick darkness of the forest by torchlight. The news spread across the district like wildfire.
On receiving information, police and Forest Department officials reached the spot and began rescue work. Range Forest Officer Ghorude was present with his team. The newly appointed sub-divisional police officer also arrived. For nearly two hours, forest and police officials and local youths searched the dark for the leopard and the boy, but found neither. Most people felt the boy's chances of survival were slim.
At about 12.30 am, as forest officials and staff were searching inside the botanical garden, in the area behind Baba Shaikh Farid, Karthik was found unconscious and injured in roadside bushes. He had regained consciousness after about two hours and called for help by clapping. One person went into the bushes towards the sound of the clapping and saw him. Amid loud shouts of "He's found, he's found", he was immediately taken in a Gypsy to the Chandrapur district hospital.
The leopard's teeth had pierced both sides of Karthik's neck, and he has a deep wound on his head. Stitches were put on his neck and head at about 1.30 am and a CT scan was done immediately. Range Forest Officer Ghorude then acted promptly and had him admitted to Dr Mehra's hospital at about 2.30 am. His condition there is said to be stable.
People are expressing the feeling that the incident has added another chapter to the glory of Mahakali, the revered goddess of Chandrapur.
