The dead leopard was noticed by the Belona villagers yesterday on the side of the Nagpur-Yavatmal National Highway, deputy conservator of forests, Yavatmal division, P T Morankar said.
"We sent a team of forest officials to the site and the carcass was sent for postmortem," Morankar said.
The villagers suspected that the feline died after being poisoned.
However, Morankar said there was no evidence of poaching.
"It could be a case of either food poisoning or road accident," he claimed.
"We are waiting for the postmortem report and based on that action would be initiated," he added.
The wild cat was around two-year-old and all its organs were intact and there was no external injury, he said.
