As many as seven people, including a child and an elderly woman, were injured after a stray leopard entered an under-construction building in Mundhwa in Pune on Monday.
Those injured are said to be out of danger while the leopard, who was caught and tranquilised after over a two-hour struggle, was sent to the city’s Katraj Wild Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.
According to sources, the animal entered the 14-storey building of the ‘Vertical Infra’ society in Keshavnagar after 6 a.m. The densely-populated area has a number of unfinished housing projects and completed residential colonies.
The animal allegedly attacked a seven-year-old child and injured three other labourers who rushed to rescue the minor. Frightened labourers raised an alarm and personnel from the police, forest department and the fire services reached the spot.
The feline panicked on seeing the crowd and fell into a duct, and was trapped. Officials managed to tranquilise it and quell the mob.
“A policeman, a forest guard and a member of the Katraj animal rescue centre suffered minor injuries,” a forest department official said.
Earlier last month, the National Defence Academy (NDA) in Khadakwasla had issued a cautionary note to its staff and cadets following several leopard sightings.
A similar incident occurred in a crowded locality in Nashik city a little over a week ago, when a leopard injured four persons, including two media persons and a Shiv Sena corporator before being caught by forest authorities.