A 6-year-old girl was killed in a suspected wild animal attack in Tirupati on Friday, August 11 night. The  body of the child who went  missing at the Alipiri walkway was found a few feet away from the Lakshminarasimha Swamy temple in Tirumala. 

The child, identified as Lakshita, a resident of Pothireddypalem village, Kovuru Mandal in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, went missing at 7:30 in the night. 

“One and a half months back, when another child was attacked, the forest officials have been extremely vigilant and are monitoring the trap cameras continually. The incident probably happened when Lakshita left the walkaway and was then taken by some animal,” said forest official Srinivasulu.

The official also said that in all likelihood this wasn’t a leopard attack but going by the bruises on the child’s body, it could be a sloth bear attack. “We will be able to say more once the postmortem report comes through,” he added. 

In June, a five-year-old child named Kaushik was critically injured after being attacked by a leopard on the walkway to the Tirumala temple. However, pedestrians noticed and swiftly ran behind the animal in groups until the child was let off. He sustained minor injuries.