In a heart-rending incident, a five-year-old boy was killed by a leopard at the Ayyarpadi Estate near Valparai in Coimbatore district on Monday evening, triggering panic and grief among tea estate workers in the region.
The victim, Saiful Alam (5), son of Roja Vali and Shajita Begum, migrant workers from Assam, was playing outside his house with his elder brother around 7 pm. Their parents were inside the house at the time.
Suddenly, a leopard that strayed out of the tea estate attacked and dragged the child away into the forest. A woman worker who witnessed the incident raised an alarm, and nearby residents rushed to the spot. By then, the leopard had vanished into the reserve forest with the child. The distraught parents collapsed in grief on learning that their son had been snatched away.
Tea estate workers immediately alerted the Valparai Forest Department and police. Forest officials, police personnel and estate workers launched an intensive search operation, creating tension across the area.
Later, the boy’s mutilated body was found behind the Madurai Veeran Temple inside the forest, a short distance from the house. Bite marks were found on the child’s neck. The body was recovered and sent to the Valparai Government Hospital for post-mortem examination. The Valparai police have registered a case and launched an investigation.
Repeated incidents of leopard attacks on the children of migrant workers in the Valparai region have sparked widespread fear. Similar fatal incidents have already been reported from the Pachaimalai, Nadumalai and Usimalai estate areas.
Tea estate workers have now urged the Forest Department to take urgent preventive measures to stop wild animals from entering residential colonies and to ensure the safety of their families.
