14-year-old Thane boy fights a leopard to save 7-year-old cousin

Tribune Web Desk 
Chandigarh, June 18 

A brave teenager saved his young cousin from the jaws of a leopard at Karpatwadi village in Murbad taluka of Thane.

Naresh Kaluram Bhala (14) and Harshad Vitthal Bhala (7) were with their grandmother on their farm, busy farming, near the Murbad forest range on Friday afternoon. 

While the woman was busy farming, the boys went to the forest in search of blueberries.  

The leopard, which was hiding behind the bushes, leapt on to the older boy but quickly pushed him away; it then attacked the younger one and injured him. 

Naresh acted quickly on his feet. He started pelting the animal with stones and even hit him with the stick lying on the ground, forcing him to let go of his grip on Harshad.

The boys raised an alarm and their grandmother, Kanhibai, came running in to save them with a ‘koyta’ (sickle). Following this the leopard fled away. 

Kanhibai rushed both the children to hospital, where they were treated for their injuries. 

Interestingly, a day later, the forest team found the same leopard dead around 300 metres away. 

The carcass of the female cat, around 10-12 years old, was taken to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park for post-mortem. 

The animal was found to have no external injuries. Pathologists from the Parel veterinary college Dr Prashant Gadve and Dr Shailesh Pethe reported the death due to old age.

On Saturday, officials from the local Tokawade police station felicitated the children. Suhas Kharmate, in-charge of Tokawade police station, said, “Naresh showed unusual courage for such a young lad.”