Nashik: A leopard on Friday entered a crowded locality in Maharashtra's Nashik district and was
caught several hours later but not before it had injured a local politician and two media personnel, police said.

The leopard strayed into Savarkar Nagar area in the early hours of the day and was finally caught by Forest
department personnel at around 10:45 am, an official from Gangapur Road police station said.

"Local Shiv Sena corporator Santosh Gaikwad, television news channel cameramen Tabrez Shaikh and Kapil
Bhaskar were injured by the leopard. They are undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital," he said.

While Gaikwad was trying to control the large number of people who had assembled to see the rescue efforts, the
media personnel were trying to obtain video footage of the animal when it pounced on them, he added.

Forest department officials said it is possible the leopard strayed into Savarkar Nagar from the farms and
forested patches in Chandshi area nearby.

The leopard will be released in the wild after mandated formalities in this connection are completed, a
Forest department official informed.

The western part of Nashik district has dense forests which are home to leopards, wolves, hyenas and foxes etc, an
official said.

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