A seven-year-old girl was killed by a leopard near Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) in Mulund here, police said on Monday.
The incident happened at around 10.30 pm last night, police said adding only the severed head of the victim was recovered.
According to police, the victim Sanjana Thorat, a resident of Shankar Tekdi slum, had told her mother that she needs to attend nature's call. Her mother took her into the forest area, adjoining the slums. Both of them were around 20 meters away from their home when the leopard attacked.
"While the minor was answering the nature's call, the leopard attacked her and dragged her into the forest," said a forest official from Thane region. Although the mother raised an alarm and slum-dwellers came out, it was very late as the wild animal had disappeared in the dark, the official added.
The local people tried to search the minor girl till 4 am on Monday but could not find her.
However, they could only find her severed head around 300 meters away from Shanti Tekdi at 7 am, police said.