Mussoorie, Nov. 23 -- A leopard suspected to be behind a series of attacks on villagers, especially women, was caught in a cage by the forest department in the Pokhra area in Uttarakhand's Pauri Garhwal district on Saturday. Abhimanyu Singh, divisional forest officer (DFO), Pauri Garhwal forest division, said, "A leopard aged around 2-3 years has been trapped in a cage and rescued by the forest department team that was deployed after an increase in the number of leopard attacks in the area." Prabha Devi from Ghandiyal village was grievously injured. While Rani Devi, an elderly woman in Bagdi village of the same block, was killed by a leopard in the past week, this led to villagers' protest at the Range Office demanding immediate action. Fear and anger had spread through the villages of Pokhra block following an increase in leopard attacks. The villagers heaved a sigh of relief after the forest department caught the leopard. Santoshi Devi, the village head of Dev Kundai village, said, "The frequent leopard attacks have made life difficult for the villagers and the students had stopped going to the school fearing an attack while commuting to places like Pokhra, Saknoli Khal, and Baijro Bazaar) also became difficult due to the fear of leopard attack." Over three attacks on women within the past week across several villages, including Bagdigad, Bagdidhar, etc, along with an attack on a calf of domestic cattle, had instilled fear among the villagers, who are of the view that due to increased movement of leopards, the threats persist. Satpal Maharaj, cabinet minister and MLA from Chaubattakhal, had instructed Swati Bhadauria, DM Pauri, to expedite authorisation to trap the problematic animal and had issued instructions to the DM to secure the necessary permit from the DFO to initiate a "shoot at sight" order for the animal. Meanwhile, following a fatal leopard attack in the Pauri Range, the Forest Department has formed a high-level committee to capture or eliminate the problematic animal, with permission for the final option granted by the Chief Wildlife Warden, Uttarakhand. The order released on Friday comes in response to the tragic death of Ginni Devi (60 years), a resident of Koti village, who was killed by a leopard while cutting grass near her field on November 20. In the interest of protecting residents and livestock, the Conservator of Forests, Garhwal Circle, sought permission to deploy cages, tranquillise the leopard, and, as a last resort, eliminate it. The Chief Wildlife Warden, Uttarakhand, granted this critical permission on November 21. HTC...