Valparai, Tamil Nadu: A four-year-old girl was found dead in a tea estate near Valparai on Saturday morning, a day after she was dragged away by a leopard while playing outside her home.

The incident occurred around 4.30 pm on Friday in the South Division of the Pachamalai estate, located in the forested hills of Coimbatore district. The child, Roshni Kumari, was the elder daughter of Manoj Munda and Monica Devi, a migrant worker couple from Jharkhand employed in the estate.

According to witnesses, the leopard emerged from nearby bushes and attacked Roshni as she stood near her mother. It then dragged her into the adjacent forest before anyone could react.

Despite frantic efforts by estate workers and a search operation by forest, police, and fire department teams, Roshni could not be found that evening. Her body was recovered the next morning, roughly 400 metres from her home.

“There was no sign of the girl till late Friday night. A joint search operation continued through the night until her body was located,” confirmed forest ranger Suresh Krishnan.

The tragedy has left the local community shaken—especially as it echoes a similar fatal attack from October 2024. In that case, a four-year-old girl named Absara Khatoon, also from a Jharkhand migrant family, was killed by a leopard at the nearby Oosimalai estate.

The forest department has since increased patrols and is considering additional safety protocols in the region, which is prone to human-wildlife conflict due to its proximity to forested areas near the Kerala border.

Officials have urged families, particularly migrant workers unfamiliar with local wildlife threats, not to allow children to wander alone during early morning or evening hours. Awareness campaigns are also being planned in high-risk zones.