Badaun (Uttar Pradesh), Jan 13 (IANS): After Bijnor and Moradabad, it is now Badaun where the local people beat a leopard to death with sticks and then mowed it down with a tractor.

Leopards were killed in Bijnor on January 6 and in Moradabad on January 8.

According to reports, the incident took place on Sunday in the Jarifpur Gadhiya village in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district, where two persons were allegedly attacked and injured by the animal in a span of two hours.

Sher Singh, 16, was playing in the village when a leopard attacked and injured him. His family members took him to a private hospital for treatment.

Nearly two hours later, Mohan Lal, 60, who was working in a field on the outskirts of the village, was also attacked by a leopard while he was relieving himself.

On hearing his cries, his son-in-law and other villagers rushed to the spot. Mohan Lal sustained injuries on his right arm.

The local people, who had gathered there, spotted the leopard and attacked it with sticks. Some of them brought a tractor and mowed down the animal to make sure that it was dead.

Sub-divisional forest officer V. K. Gupta said that he would comment on the issue only after inspecting the scene of the crime.

Station House officer (SHO) of Sahaswan police station Harendra Singh said: "The villagers killed leopard after it injured two locals. We are awaiting complaint from forest department to lodge an FIR in the matter."

It may be recalled that in a similar incident in Bijnor, enraged villagers had shot dead a leopard, hours after it killed a 14-year-old boy. An FIR was lodged against 80 unidentified villagers under sections of Wildlife Protection Act while forest department suspended deputy ranger and guard for dereliction of duty.

On January 8, another leopard's carcass was found in a village in the Kaanth area of Moradabad following which forest department lodged an FIR against unknown villagers.