A wedding in Lucknow was gatecrashed by an uninvited guest, prompting people to flee for their lives in fear. The celebrations turned into a scene of panic and chaos after a leopard strayed into the premises of the banquet hall.
A video of the unusual incident, which took place on Wednesday night in the city's MM Lawn hall, has since gone viral on social media.
Hundreds of guests ran out to the streets as a result of the leopard's sudden straying into the wedding venue. One person was seriously injured after jumping out of the roof in panic.
Shortly after receiving information, a police team and officials from the forest department reached the spot and evacuated all attendees before launching a search operation, Lucknow DFO Sitanshu Pandey confirmed.
The video shows a group of police officers with rifles entering a locked area inside the banquet hall. As they climb up the stairs, the leopard catches them off guard.
The big cat also tries to pull a rifle from an officer's hand, but drops and flees upstairs.
The officials come out of the area, after which it is locked up again.
After an overnight operation, the leopard was finally rescued at around 4 am on Thursday. A separate video has surfaced of the animal being loaded into a cage.
Regarding the rescue operation, Lucknow Divisional Forest Officer Sitanshu Pandey said it took more than four hours to capture the leopard.
"There is a dense forest above Malihabad. Above that, there is also Lakhimpur Kheri, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. Since the leopard is an agile animal, it can come from anywhere," he added.
Before the leopard was caught, officials had urged residents of the area to keep calm and refrain from venturing out alone.
Source: India Today