Bengaluru: Panic gripped residents of Bellikothanur in Kanakapura Rural on Saturday morning after a leopard, which strayed into a silk godown, attacked a 60-year-old labourer and another onlooker who tried to take a look.
Forest officials and veterinarians from Bannerghatta National Park shot a transquiliser dart through the window and captured the big cat on Saturday morning. The leopard was taken for observation to Channapatna from where it may be released into the forests nearby.
The leopard strayed into the raw silk godown at Bellikothanur on the outskirts of Kanakapura town around 10.30 pm. The labourer, Dodda Thimmaiah, who was sleeping inside, panicked and the leopard pounced on him, the police said.
Thimmaiah was saved in the nick of time by Jagadish, a silk farmer who owns the godown. Jagadish pulled Thimmaiah out and locked the leopard inside the room. Thimmaiah was admitted to a government hospital with gashes on his torso and bite marks near his ears. He is recovering.
The news of the locked leopard spread in the town on Saturday morning, and soon, a large crowd gathered at the room, making it difficult for the police to make arrangements to capture it. One of the onlookers, Kiran, tried to take a peek through the window when the leopard attacked him, the Kanakapura Rural police said.
