Leopard on campus, production on hold at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant

The morning shift had to be cancelled after a guard raised alarm when the big cat showed up on one of the CCTV cameras at around 3am.

An uninvited guest at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant brought production to a halt on Thursday morning.

A leopard caught on CCTV at Maruti Suzuki’s Manesar plant. (CCTV grab)

The visitor – a leopard -- is yet to vacate the premises and is keeping the staff, wildlife officials and police on their toes.

“A seven-member team is on the job. They are equipped with tranquilizer to calm the leopard down and rescue it,” Gurgaon’s wildlife conservator Vinod Kumar said.

The morning shift had to be cancelled after a guard raised alarm when the big cat showed up on one of the CCTV cameras at around 3am.

The plant officials are tight-lipped and refused comment.

Nightshift workers were immediately asked to vacate the premises to avoid any untoward incident, sources said.

Forest officials said they received information about the leopard at around 3.30am.

“We are unable to spot the leopard as the plant’s main processing unit is in the basement, which is dark. Our teams are using torchlight and taking help of the CCTV footage,” Kumar said.

The area is close to the Aravalli hills and it is suspected that the big cat could have come from the forested area.

Manesar is one of the biggest Maruti Suzuki plants that manufactures a range of vehicles such as Swift, Swift Desire and Ertiga.