A leopard was found dead on the National Highway (NH) 44 near Khatushyam temple in north Delhi's Alipur in the early hours of Wednesday, police said. This comes just days after a leopard was sighted multiple times in south Delhi's Sainik Farms area.Police said they received a PCR call at around 4am and upon reaching the spot, found the animal lying on one side of the road.

"This prima facie appeared to be a case of traffic accident. The body has been taken into the custody and forest department informed for further necessary action," police said. It is unclear if this was the same leopard that was spotted in South Delhi's Sainik Farms area last week.

A week ago, a leopard was spotted in South Delhi's Sainik Farm area and the forest department had put up trap cages to capture the animal. As the trap came up empty, forest officials said they figured the leopard had gone back to the Aravalli forests.

Another police officer said forest officials would check if this is the same animal that was spotted in south Delhi. Some residents have claimed that they spotted a leopard in Mukmelpur village located in Alipur two days ago, the official added. The status of leopards in Delhi has been a highly debated one. According to a 2022 report, at least eight leopards were in the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, which is close to the Sainik Farm.

There have been reports of leopard sightings in Asola Bhatti for the past few years, but their presence was only confirmed last year. In January this year, the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) had released a video showing a leopard cub emerging from a burrow inside the sanctuary.   This was the first documented leopard cub in Asola Bhatti and is believed to have been born there.