Belagavi forest officials deny leopard that strayed into city caught in camera trap

A leopard that strayed into the Belagavi city limits was reportedly caught in a camera trap placed by forest department officials in the premises of the Golf Course in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. However, the officials denied the picture that has been widely shared.

The leopard had attacked a mason labourer, Sidrai Nilajkar, at Jadhav Nagar on Friday. It had disappeared since and efforts to trace it had not yielded results. Officials were unable to lure the leoparf to the cages with bait placed at Jadhav Nagar and Hanuman Nagar.

After reports of the leopard moving around Golf Course, forest officials had placed seven cages with baits and 14 trap cameras.

Pictures of the leopard reportedly caught in the trap cameras went viral on social media.

Range Forest Officer Rakesh Arjunwad denied the leopard was caught in the camera trap. He said the pictures circulating were likely from elsewhere. We are ascertaining the pictures of cameras placed.

However, residents from areas surrounding Golf Course—Jadhav Nagar Hanuman Nagar, Vijay Nagar and others—have been asked to remain indoors.