On Friday morning, residents of a Bhayandar housing society found themselves fighting off a leopard that was jumping from balcony to balcony entering homes and badly injuring seven before it was captured following a six-hour operation
Illustrations/Uday Mohite
1 Late Thursday night, a local Bhayandar woman who feeds stray dogs spots a leopard in the area and immediately informs the police
2 Police personnel arrive and scan the surroundings, but are unable to trace the leopard during the night search
3 At 7.40 am, Rakesh Yadav and his 19-year-old family friend who are returning to their ground floor flat after having breakfast are attacked by the leopard who was hiding behind the vehicles
4 The leopard makes his way into a neighbouring society, where a food delivery person in the adjoining wing, spots the leopard and calls out to residents to warn them. Deepu Bhowmick hears the calls and runs to shut his balcony grill when the leopard jumps at him and bites his hand
5 Later, it jumps into a first-floor balcony, enters a flat, and injures a young woman inside. Her uncle and a few BMC cleaners rush to rescue her with laathis. The uncle sustains major injuries, while the girl manages to escape
6 Panic follows as the leopard injures five more people amid the chaos in the residential building
7 Teams from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park’s Forest Department and the local police reach the spot, formulate a capture strategy, while local politicians arrive and a large crowd gathers, complicating the rescue
8 After a nearly seven-hour operation, the leopard is tranquillised and captured, with forest officials struggling to move it into the rescue van owing to the crowd
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