NEW DELHI, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- A 35-year-old Buddhist monk was mauled to death by a leopard inside a forest in western Indian state of Maharashtra, police said Thursday.

The monk Rahul Walke was meditating when the leopard attacked him inside Tadoba forest area in Chandrapur district, about 830 km east of Mumbai, the capital of Maharashtra.

"On Tuesday a leopard attacked a monk while he was meditating under a tree deep inside the forest," a police official posted in Chandrapur said. "A fellow monk told us he saw the leopard attacking Walke when he had gone there to give him food."

According to wildlife officials Tadoba is a protected tiger reserve.

Police said Walke had been associated with a Buddhist temple in the area and had ventured deep inside the forest to meditate.

Meanwhile, wildlife authorities have launched a search in the area to trap the leopard and have set up cameras to track its movement.

The local government in Maharashtra announced a compensation of 1,672 U.S. dollars as compensation to the family of Walke.

The Tadoba reserve is home to variety of wild animals including tigers, sloth bears and leopards.

Wildlife officials said they had previously warned the monks against venturing deep inside the forest in wake of presence of wild animals.