LEOPARD KILLS 4-YEAR-OLD GIRL AT AAREY COLONY Cong leader first to lose RS seat after being jailed

MUMBAI: A four-year-old girl was attacked by a leopard at Aarey Milk Colony, Goregaon (E), when she was relieving herself on the porch of her home at 6.15am on Tuesday. Riya Mhasi, a Khadak Pada resident, is the city’s first casualty of a leopard attack since December, when Alexander VK Fernandes, a security guard, was attacked in Bhandup.

Within the next 12 hours, an 11-year old boy, Sunil Bhovar, was attacked by a leopard when he was working in a paddy field with his father in Nava Pada, located close to Khadak Pada. Bhovar has been admitted to Life Line Medicare hospital, Goregaon, with grievous injuries.

Riya’s family said that she was squatting with her back to the wooded area when the leopard pounced on her, and that Riya’s grandmother saw the leopard drag the child away by the neck.

People looked for the girl for close to 45 minutes before they found her lying between two rocks with the leopard crouching beside her. After being cornered by groups of men, the leopard escaped into the forest. “Riya was clawed and bitten on her face and neck. She was declared dead on arrival at Bhagwati Hospital,” said her cousin Akshay, 19. Riya was the youngest child in the family and has two elder sisters.

Around 50 families reside in Khadak Pada, located close to Aarey picnic point garden. “A leopard killed my dog during Ganeshotsav but in the last 30 years, never has a human been attacked,” said Shevanti Barab, a local. The forest department has placed a trap cage close to the spot where Riya’s body was found. NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Rasheed Masood was on Tuesday sentenced to four years in jail in a corruption case, becoming the first legislator to lose his Rajya Sabha seat after a landmark Supreme Court verdict recently removed immunity for convicted lawmakers.

The 67-year-old former Union minister was taken into custody immediately after the sentencing in a Delhi court and sent to Tihar jail. Masood is effectively out of the electoral arena for 10 years, as the SC says a legislator will remain disqualified for a further six years from the date of his release, unless a higher court overturns both his conviction and sentencing.

The sentencing comes a day after a Ranchi court convicted RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD(U) leader Jagadish Sharma both Lok Sabha members, in a fodder scam case.