Leopard At Maruti Factory Near Delhi Caught After 30-Hour Hunt

Gurgaon: A leopard on the loose inside a Maruti factory in Manesar near Delhi was caught after nearly 30 hours of massive hunt. Some 25 teams of the forest department were looking for the animal in the sprawling 600 acre campus.

Two iron cages were kept with goats as bait to draw the animal out of the plant's engine department. "The leopard is hiding behind a machine which is used for assembling car engines. It is difficult to move the machine," Wild Life Conservator Vinod Kumar had told PTI.

Firecrackers were also thrown in an attempt to force the animal to run out of its hideout.

The leopard was spotted roaming inside the plant yesterday, around dawn. The engine department has been out of bounds for workers since then.

Officials say the leopard entered the Maruti Suzuki Powertrain around 4 am. When security guards raised an alarm, the morning shift was called off and the overnight workers were cleared out of the factory.

The animal was believed to be inside the engine assembling unit of the Maruti plant, which is next to the Aravalli mountain range in Manesar.

The chief of the workers' union, Kuldeep Jhangu, told the Press Trust of India that when the guards alerted everyone about the animal, it entered the main engine assembling facility of the factory.

Thousands of workers who arrived around 7 am were asked to wait outside the plant and security guards were also asked to stay away.

Production resumed partially later in the day, but there was lingering fear as the staff was aware that a leopard was hiding in the engine department spread over 16 acres of land.