‘It followed 2 men who ran into our house’

SANJEEV, 18, WAS watching television at home in Durga Colony Thursday morning when he heard his mother’s screams, alertingthefamilyofthepresenceofa leopard in the street outside.

Sanjeev’s mother, Kamlesh, was watering the plants in the verandah of the family’s two-storey house, when a “three-year-old male leopard” ran into their narrow lane. She spotted the animal as it ran up and down the road, looking for a way out.

“She ran inside the house screaming, and I rushed to lock the main gate so that we are safe,” said her husband, Kunwarpal Bhargav, a shopkeeper in the area.

Bhargav hails from Mandawar village, where a “three to four-year-old male leopard” had caused a similar kind of chaos in November last year. Residents of Durga Colony claim they have never spotted a leopard in the area.

As Bhargav reached the main gate, pedestrians told him that the leopard was close and was headed in his direction.

“I ran back into my house, but I left the main gate open because I spotted two other men on the road, and wanted to make sure they could run in after me before we bolted the door,” said Bhargav.

The men ran in, but the leopard followed them into the house. Locals bolted the main gate after the leopard, trapping both the animal, and the six people inside.

“We did try to scare the animal away from the house, hoping it will go to the terrace and the family will be able to escape, but the door leading to the terrace was closed so the animal remained on the stairway,” said Usman, a resident of the area.

For the next four hours, the six people remained locked in the house. They kept peeping through the window as the animal walked up and down the stairs, baring its teeth at them as they attempted to click pictures and record videos of it through the grill.

In the adjoining building, Sunita, a domestic help, sat staring through the grilled door of the structure. The building also houses a school, with over a 100 students, all of who remained inside.

Bhargav’s family heaved a sigh of relief after officials finally captured the animal at 2.30 pm. After the leopard was taken away, they were surrounded by people, eager to hear their first-hand account.