After attacking Kumar, the leopard went on to injure Akash, 14, before entering the house of one Preeti Prajapati, who was alone at the time.
Bittu Kumar, a resident of Krishan Vihar in Sahibabad, will not forget this Thursday night for a long time to come, thanks to the memento etched directly on to his body. The 27-year-old was attacked by a leopard while he was parking his bike and the big cat left big bite marks on his arm and chest.
"I had returned from my friend's house and was parking my bike when a leopard came out of nowhere and attacked me. I fell unconscious. People then took me to a nearby clinic, from where I was discharged after getting first aid. This is a nightmare. These bite marks will not let me sleep for at least a few days," Kumar said, recalling the horrifying experience.
After attacking Kumar, the leopard went on to injure Akash, 14, before entering the house of one Preeti Prajapati, who was alone at the time. "I was on the ground floor when I saw the leopard. I thought of staying still, but all of a sudden it jumped on me. I ducked to save myself and ran upstairs," Prajapati said.
"I locked the door and immediately raised an alarm. My brother Ankit, who was near the entrance, bolted the main door. The other residents helped me get down with the help of a ladder," she said.
The locals then netted the entire house, before calling the police and the forest officials. The forest department personnel managed to trap the leopard at 6 am the next morning and transported it to a forest reserve in Saharanpur.
"It took us more than seven hours to catch the animal as it did not come out of the house. We had to break through a wall to locate it. It was very difficult to get hold of it. We even put a goat inside to lure him," Forest Officer, Ghaziabad, BP Singh said.
The night-long drama reignited the fears of the locals as this was not the first time that a wild animal had entered their locality.
Resident Mahesh Singh said: "We suspect that the animal ventured into the area from the nearby Hindon river. We request the officials to take some immediate measures as this is not the first time that a wild animal has entered our locality."
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