Panic gripped the Badamal area in Saintala block of Balangir district on Thursday after a video featuring a leopard roaming freely on a road in the locality during night went viral on social media.
The animal was reportedly spotted near the ordnance factory in Badamal.
Balangir Divisional Forest Officer Samir Satpathy said the area is a restricted one as an ordnance factory is situated there and no public or vehicles are allowed.
There were two leopards in the nearby Banei Reserve Forest region in 2016. The population of the leopards might have increased in the area since then, he added.