Gritty Palghar grandpa snatches wife from jaws of hungry leopard

A 65-year-old woman was saved from a leopard's jaws by her 72-year-old husband at Poshera village in Jawhar taluka of Thane district, late on Friday. The leopard had attacked the woman, Parvati Sapte, on her head and neck leading to serious injuries. The incident took place when Parvati and her husband Kashinath were at their hut in the night.

Parvati thought she heard a cow at their farm and went out to check and found a leopard instead. As the leopard attacked her, Parvati tried to escape and ran towards the hut. However, the leopard managed to grab hold of her, bit her on the neck and tried to drag her towards the jungle. Meanwhile, Kashinath heard her screams and came out. He lunged at the leopard with a bamboo stick and managed to save Parvati.

The couple then returned to their hut and Kashinath gave her first aid. Hearing them scream, the villagers had also arrived there. Parvati was taken to a civil hospital in Nashik where she is undergoing treatment. The villagers also informed the forest department about the incident. Mokhada range forest officer Rajendra Nikam said, "We will fix a cage to nab the leopard in this area. As it is summer, we had advised villagers to not sleep out in the open or go out late in the night as that is the time when leopards attack. The village is close to the Tansa wildlife sanctuary and it's assumed that the leopard came here searching for food."

Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) Niranjan Diwakar from Jawahar Division said, "On late Friday night an incident of human-animal conflict took place at compartment no 114 in Mokhada range where a senior citizen was injured. The incident took place in the night and soon after the incident the lady was rushed to a hospital in Nashik. The lady has sustained injuries but she is now in stable condition." He said that they have set up cameras in the area to track the leopard and added that the area had not seen any human-animal conflicts in the past five years.