The leopard was rescued from the kitchen after a four-hour struggle

Pune: Chaos and panic ensued at the National Institute of Banking Management (NIBM), Kondhwa, after a male leopard was found trapped in the campus kitchen. A team of seven forest officials rescued the wild animal after four hours.

The incident occurred on Saturday morning around 8.30 am in the institute's ground-floor kitchen. A housekeeping member spotted the leopard's tail near a cupboard, and locked the door.

The NIBM management alerted officials from the Maharashtra Forest Department in Pune. Deputy conservation forest officer, Satyajeet Gujar, said, "The leopard was running around the kitchen looking to escape." The forest officials broke the glass windows of the kitchen and tried to inject the leopard with a tranquiliser. "On the sixth attempt, he was unconscious," Gujar recounted.