Nagpur, Aug 29 (IANS): A big cat family comprising a mother leopard and her two cubs were electrocuted by live wires laid to kill wild boars in the forests of Maharashtra's Gondia district, officials said here on Tuesday.

The incident came to light when a forest cowherd in the Deori jungles noticed a stench in the vicinity and informed the local forest officials who rushed there.

A search in the area revealed the three carcasses of the leopard and her cubs which were intact, and electrical wires laid there by some poachers for illegal poaching activities, said a forest department official.

Teams of the forest officers and local police got cracking and managed to track down eight suspected poachers from surrounding villages of Mehtkheda and Bhoyertala.

After interrogation, four were arrested and charged under various sections of the Indian Forest Act and Wildlife Protection Act.

The accused poachers have confessed that they laid the electric wires to trap and kill wild boars last Saturday but the big cats got ensnared in them and electrocuted.

The forest officials completed the autopsy on the three leopard carcasses which were later cremated after following the due protocols.

The official said that an alert will be issued to the forest staff to keep an eye open for more such electric traps that may have been laid by poachers in the nearby forests to prevent such tragedies and also intensify anti-poaching vigil in the region especially at night.