Leopard sighted near Manipal, panic grips people

The sighting of a leopard in Vidyarathnanagara near Manipal, on Tuesday night, has triggered fear among the residents.

A CCTV footage, recorded on Tuesday, showed a leopard sneaking into the colony and pouncing on a dog. The leopard had later escaped in a flash at around 7.50 pm.

This happened at the residence of retired professor B G Mohandas in Vidyarathnanagara. Vidyarathnanagara area is not very far from Manipal’s KMC quarters.

As two dogs of Mohandas started barking, Mohandas stepped out and was shocked to see a leopard entering the compound through the gate. As Mohandas raised an alarm, the leopard fled back into the woods.

Five years ago, a leopard had created panic by entering the KMC quarters on April 8, 2014. The leopard which strayed into the MAHE campus on the night of April 8, 2014, was captured by Forest Department officials on the following day.

Udupi Range Forest Officer (RFO) Clifford Lobo said that cages had been kept at three locations to catch the big cat. But no leopard was caught as on Thursday evening. However, the staff of the forest department were kept on alert, he said.