Leopard enters residential area in Hisar, caught after 7-hour operation; two injured

Hisar, Jan 21 (PTI) A leopard entered a residential area in Hisar on Sunday and injured two persons before it was captured after a multi-agency seven-hour rescue effort, officials said.

The leopard was spotted by a hawker selling newspapers around 7 am in Rishi Nagar. Later, the leopard was seen in CCTV footage of the area, they said.

According to officials, teams from many departments, including the forest department, police force, fire and emergency services, were deployed in Rishi Nagar to catch and rescue the leopard.

It remained unclear how the leopard entered the city and made its way into the residential area.

The rescue team's guard Manjeet and another employee Bablu were injured in an attack by the leopard when the team attempted to catch the animal from a warehouse, officials said.

The leopard jumped over a wall in the warehouse and attacked a woman on the street outside but she narrowly escaped, they said.

Hearing the noise of the crowd gathered there, the leopard then entered a house. Police said that the administration also arranged a trap to catch the leopard but when it was not successful, it was hit with a tranquiliser dart.

When the leopard became unconscious, rescue teams caught it, officials said. PTI