Murugendrappa and Nagaraj first spotted the leopard, while they were irrigating their farm, when the big cat was walking down the bund.

Farmers from the surrounding fields rushed to the spot, when Murugendrappa let out a cry of fear. Soon the news spread and a large number of people gathered. By this time, the leopard had entered a maize field and had dozed off.

Oblivious to onlookers

Even as the hullabaloo continued and the number of people swelled, the leopard did not budge from its place. It was not fazed by the onlookers who continued to watch the animal from a distance. All that the leopard did was, to simply get up and walk slowly, with the public trailing behind. Some of the villagers even climbed coconut trees, for fear that they might lose track of the animal in the maize fields.

The officials of the Forest and the Police departments, who were alerted by the villagers, caught hold of the leopard after an hour’s operation, with help from villagers . In the process, the leopard bit a finger of one, Dinesh.

According to Zonal Forest Officer S Narasimhamurthy, the leopard died of heart attack on the way to the Adumalleshwara Zoo in Chitradurga, where the animal was being transported to. The animal was six years old and had strayed into the fields from the nearby forests.

The leopard was not injured while being caught. But it was denumbed, which suggested that it might have suffered a minor heart attack, earlier.