Haldwani, April 24 -- Villagers staged a protest on Wednesday night after a 52-year-old woman was killed in a suspected leopard attack in Jeoli village near Jeolikote in Nainital district, officials said on Thursday. According to forest officials, Hema Pandey, a resident of Jeoli village, had gone into a nearby forest on Wednesday to collect fodder when she was attacked and killed by a big cat. Women accompanying her alerted villagers and the forest department after the incident. A search operation was launched and the woman's mutilated body was recovered about four kilometres from the site of the attack, officials said. Later in the night, enraged villagers carried the body to the Ranibagh forest outpost located along the Nainital Highway and staged a protest, accusing the forest department of failing to prevent wildlife attacks in the area. Villagers alleged that forest officials had earlier claimed that the man-eating big cat in the region had already been captured and demanded that the animal responsible for the attack be declared a man-eater and killed. Sub-divisional magistrate Nainital Pramod Kumar reached the spot and held discussions with the villagers for nearly two hours before persuading them to end the protest. Officials said it was agreed that fodder and leaf litter would be provided to villagers until the animal is captured, and compensation would be provided to the victim's family as per government norms. Following the intervention, villagers allowed the body to be sent for post-mortem, officials said. Nainital divisional forest officer Akash Gangwar said samples will be sent to Wildlife Institute of India Dehradun to confirm which the woman was killed in a leopard attack or attack by some other wild animal. "Four cages and several camera traps have been installed at the incident site and in the surrounding areas. Three teams are patrolling the area to tranquilise the big cat. No movement has been detected so far," Gangwar said....