A leopard was caught after six hours of struggle at Durga Colony in Sohna, 26 kilometres south of Gurugram on Thursday morning.
Two people were injured while trying to capture the animal that has ventured into the village.
The leopard entered the residential area at around 8 am and kept villagers on their toes till 2.35 pm before the forest department managed to tranquillise it and captured it with nets.
The leopard was first spotted by luv Kumar, who was watching television in an adjacent room. Kumar alerted other family members who locked themselves indoors. The families were kept inside for six hours as forest officials and police tried to capture the wild cat.
Petrified villages informed police and forest officials, who arrived with tranquillisers, cages and nets to catch the animal. Kumar was the first to be attacked. “I was watching TV when the leopard attacked me,” he said.
During the struggle, he sustained minor injuries to his shoulder and chest. His neighbours later rushed him to Sohna’s Civil Hospital.
The leopard then attacked a 5-year-old child who was playing in the street. The child received scratches on the shoulder and chest.
“The forest team reached the spot as soon as we got the information. We got the support of villagers and a police team as well to capture the leopard,” M D Sinha, conservator of forests, Gurugram Circle said.
Meanwhile the residents of Durga Colony remained insoorse as rescue operations was going on to control leopard. The families could come out of hiding after a couple of hours when the leopard was finally tranquillised after two failed attempts.
The area, however, has seen such cases before. Mandawar, another village in Sohna, witnessed a similar incident in November last year.