Chandrapur (Maharashtra), June 2 (IANS): A nine-month-old infant was mauled to death in by a leopard early on Sunday in this Maharashtra district, police said.

According to police official Sharad Aware of Sindevahi Police Station, the incident occurred around 3 a.m. when the infant, Swaraj Gurnule, was sleeping in his home in Gadbori village here.

"A leopard sneaked into the home, pounced on the child and fled with him into the deep forests outside the village. We recovered only a few mutilated body parts around 2 kms away from the family's home," Aware told IANS.

An autopsy was performed, and the remnants handed over to the family which performed the last rites this evening with a large number of villagers present, he added.

Swaraj was the second child of the inconsolable Gurnule couple, who are peasants and have another older son, aged around 3.

The third leopard attack on humans in the past eight months in the district, it has struck fear in the minds of the local farmers and tribals.

Last November, a woman was killed in a leopard strike in Povanpar village and in December, a monk meditating in the open in Ramdegi village was attacked by a leopard and killed.