T.  Narasipur: The fear of leopard attack has returned to haunt villagers here, as in yet another incident, a 60- year-old woman was killed in a similar incident at Kannanayakanahalli in T. Narasipur taluk on Friday. It is the third such incident in the last three months, with two students falling victims in similar cases in the same taluk.

Siddamma, wife of Ningaraju of the village, had gone to fetch firewood in the backyard of her house at about 6 pm, when the feline attacked her. She had suffered bites on her face and other parts of her body. Though she mustered courage to raise an alarm, she had succumbed to the injuries by the time neighbours rushed to her help.

It is said, the leopard tried to drag the body of Siddamma, but fled after seeing the crowd rushing to the spot.

Following  the incident, family members of Siddamma were inconsolable. Though Forest Department was informed about the incident, they allegedly did not turn up even an hour after, earning the wrath of irate villagers.

Meanwhile, the body was shifted to T. Narasipur Government General Hospital Mortuary.

MLA M. Ashwin Kumar, who rushed to the spot, collected the information about the incident and consoled the grieving family members of Siddamma.

Tahsildar Geetha, ACF Lakshmikanth, RFO Syed Nadeem, DRFOs Manjunath and Umesh, PSI Pachchegowda and others also visited the spot.

A case has been registered at T. Narasipur Police Station.

Third fatality since Oct. 30

In similar incidents of leopard attack, Mallikarjuna of M.L. Hundi village was killed on Oct. 30, 2022 and Meghana of M. Kebbehundi village on Dec. 1, both in T. Naraspur taluk, triggering outrage among villagers.

After nearly a month-long operation, especially after Meghana’s incident, involving 10 expert teams, Forest Department had succeeded in capturing the same leopard that was believed to have claimed the lives of the duo, at Muthathi village on Dec. 22.

During the same time, Forest Department had trapped two more leopards including a three-year-old male leopard at Muthathi village and eight-year-old male leopard at Mallappana Betta. Following the trapping of leopards, the villagers nearby had heaved a sigh of relief.