Hyderabad: Leopard continues to play hide & seek with officials

HYDERABAD: The leopard that turned out to be a traffic-stopper of sorts in Hyderabad in the month of May is creating waves yet again after it surfaced on CCTV camera footage on Monday night. 

Apparently playing hide and seek with forest department officials on its trail, the young leopard has people living on the city outskirts, scared for their lives.

CCTV cameras located in the Rajendra Nagar area captured the elusive leopard yet again on Monday night. On this occasion, the leopard could be seen peeping through the window of a building. Locals said that the room is part of the security department which is adjacent to a wooded area. They fear that the leopard has made the area its home. 

This is the third instance of the leopard being spotted on camera. The forest officials estimate it to be aged between three and four years.

It first came into limelight when it was spotted on a main road on the city outskirts, in the early hours of May 14. The leopard made away from the spot and ever since it has been spotted in various locations.

The leopard is believed to be roaming in the richly forested area which also contains the sprawling campus of the Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University. The elusive big cat has been giving sleepless nights to residents even as several efforts to trap it have gone in vain. Apart from traps, drones have been deployed to track the leopard, but all efforts have failed so far.