Nine injured as leopard enters Ghaziabad court; captured after four-hour rescue operation

Wildlife officials said the animal was cornered in the stairwell on the ground floor of the court complex, shot using tranquilliser guns and captured around 8.15pm after it fell unconscious

An adult male leopard entered the Ghaziabad district court complex in Raj Nagar on Wednesday around 4pm and injured at least nine people before being captured by forest department officials following an intense four-hour-long rescue operation.

The leopard at Ghaziabad district court on Wednesday. The leopard is aged about 7-8 years. (PTI)

Wildlife officials said the animal was cornered in the stairwell on the ground floor of the court complex, shot using tranquilliser guns and captured around 8.15pm after it fell unconscious. By then, the animal, aged about 7-8 years, sustained several injuries which the forest department veterinarians are currently treating with antibiotics and multivitamins, wildlife officials said. The leopard will be later released into an appropriate habitat, away from human settlements, they said.

Foresters said the animal triggered widespread panic and chaos in the court complex and nearby areas, and also injured at least nine individuals, including a shoe polish vendor, a police head constable, two lawyers and four litigants. Authorities said all the injured people were admitted to hospitals and are stable now.

A number of injured persons that HT spoke to at hospitals said initially, they heard that a few monkeys were wreaking havoc and attacking people.

“We brothers were waiting on the second floor when suddenly an aggressive-looking adult leopard appeared right in front of us. We were stunned. It attacked the three of us and ran downstairs,” Tanveer Ahmad, an injured litigant, said at the Sanjay Nagar District Combined Hospital where five other injured people including a 61-year-old woman from Loni, were admitted.

The administrative officer of the district court said they suspect the animal entered the court complex on Tuesday and ventured into one of the buildings on Wednesday afternoon.

“After attacking people on different floors, it appeared outside the court of the district judge and lunged at the window, breaking the glass pane. That was when I shot a video and circulated it online asking everyone to vacate the premises. The police and the district administration were also informed,” said Satyendra Kumar Verma, administrative officer, Ghaziabad court.

Several people shot videos of the leopard. One of the videos showed three lawyers, one of them armed with a spade, trying to chase the animal out, even as it lunged at them.

“The duel with the leopard lasted about 10-15 seconds before the animal injured my colleague severely. He is now in hospital and has suffered heavy blood loss,” said advocate Anuj Garg, a colleague of Pramod Tanwar, who is admitted to a private hospital in Kavi Nagar.

Even as videos shot by administrative staff and lawyers went viral on social media, police and forest officials confined the big cat to the stairwell area, near the police post on the ground floor. Several teams covered the first-floor stairwell area with nets and also lit a fire there to deter the animal from climbing up.

Nipun Agarwal, deputy commissioner of police (city), said, “We received information around 3pm Wednesday and the leopard was captured by around 8.15pm. The forest department has taken the animal away for examination and treatment. At least nine people were injured on different floors of the Ghaziabad court but no casualty was reported.”

The district court has an estimated footfall of about 12,000 a day. Wildlife officials and foresters said the injuries could have been more had they not been able to corner the animal in the stairwell and tranquillise it.

Manish Singh, divisional forest officer, said, “The leopard attacked people at the court in its frenzy to find a way out and to defend itself. The operation was completed in four hours and included the time it took for the tranquilliser team from Meerut to reach Ghaziabad. The leopard was administered two tranquilliser shots and captured.”

After examining the leopard, veterinary doctors said the animal was a fully grown male, aged about 7-8 years but they could not readily ascertain from where it reached the court. This will be examined later on, they said.

“The animal sustained several injuries for which we are treating him with antibiotics and multivitamins. About 25 forest department personnel were part of the operation. We are also writing to the chief conservator of forests (CCF) for release of the leopard into a safe habitat. The location will be ascertained by the CCF and is likely to be the Saharanpur range,” Singh said.

The Ghaziabad court complex houses about 65 courts and has different buildings, including those of Central Bureau of Investigation courts. It is adjacent to the administrative offices of the Ghaziabad district administration officials, the Ghaziabad police and in the vicinity of the official residences of senior district officials.