A half-eaten body of a man from Bihar has been recovered from the Motichur range of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand.
The recovery of 45-year-old Shahid's body late last night comes a fortnight after a man-eating leopard was shot dead in the same range, located in Dehradun district, raising suspicion that several man-eating leopards could be active in the area.
The body Shahid, a resident of Bihar's Kishanganj district, has been kept in the Rishikesh mortuary, Vikas Rawat, Forest Range Officer (FRO), Motichur.
This is the 22nd victim of leopard attacks in the range in the last three years. On July 10, a man-eating leopard had killed a person at a village in Raiwala area near the range. The next day, a female leopard walking with a limp was shot dead. Forensic tests had later confirmed that it was a man-eater.
The FRO, however, cautioned that the recovery of Shahid's body gives rise to suspicion that there might be other man-eating leopards in the area.