Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 20 (IANS): A leopard succumbed to brutal injuries inflicted by locals in the Gangoda Jat village where bamboos were shoved inside the big cat's mouth, causing it to bleed profusely.

The leopard's legs were tied and it was thrashed for hours.

Videos of the assault have gone viral on social media.

According to reports, the leopard was caught in a net surrounding the farm and was beaten up in it.

As the news reached forest officials, they rushed to the spot to rescue the leopard but it died within minutes.

The forest department has initiated an inquiry to identify those visible in the video. A case has also been registered against farm owner Vipin Kumar.

Bijnor's divisional forest officer Anil Kumar Patel, said, "The leopard's carcass was sent to Bareilly IVRI centre for a post-mortem and the report revealed internal injuries in the mouth and the head. The animal might have been attacked with a blunt object."

After the case was registered, hundreds of farmers gathered in front of the collectorate on Saturday and alleged that the farm owner had been 'trapped' in a false case.

Protesters also submitted a memorandum to district magistrate Umesh Mishra.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a carcass of a three-year-old male leopard was found lying in a sugarcane field in the Madaripur Kakrala village of Chandpur area on Saturday.

"We have found another carcass in a separate village and are sending it to Bareilly IVRI centre for an autopsy to know the cause of death," said divisional forest officer Anil Patel.