Jaipur, February 28 A 42-year-old farmer was killed in what is suspected to be a leopard attack near the Sajjangarh Sanctuary in Udaipur district, Rajasthan, police said on Saturday.
The incident occurred in a village within the Badi gram panchayat area on Friday night, they said.
The body of the victim, identified as Babulal Gameti, was found on Saturday morning in a farm a few meters away, where he had been sleeping, they added.
Badgaon SHO Kitab Devi said, "The farmer had gone to his field to irrigate the wheat crop and was sleeping on the roof of a room built near the well. It appears that a leopard attacked him during the night and dragged him away."
She said blood stains were first noticed by a villager who had gone to switch on the water pump in the morning.
"Following the trail of blood, the villagers found the body in the field and informed the police. A team from the Badgaon police station and the forest department reached the spot," she said.
According to the police, the body was mutilated, with one leg severed. The deceased's clothes were recovered from near the well.
The body has been sent to a hospital in Udaipur for a post-mortem, the SHO said, adding that further investigation is underway and the forest department has been informed to take necessary action in the area.