Strayed panther enters posh area

Ujjain, Mar 05: A panther strayed into a VIP locality in Ujjain on Wednesday morning creating panic among the residents. It first entered into courtyard of District Judge’s house and soon sneaked into DIG’s place. A team from Indore eventually tranquilized the wild cat and took it to Kamla Nehru Zoo for treatment.

The wild cat was first spotted at District Judge GK Sharma’s residence at Kothi Marg Locality right in front of main entrance gate of Vikram University. Later, he moved to DIG Vipin Maheshwari’s house and soon sneaked into Conservator of Forest Sudhir Kumar’s place. It also attempted to enter into forest rest house but by that time public had gathered at the spot forcing it to retreat to DIG’s house where his 7-year-old son was playing in courtyard. Fortunately, it did not harm anyone.

In the afternoon, a team comprising BP Sharma and others from India reached the place and tranquilized the animal. Despite being administered tranquilizer, the wild cat rushed to Rest House cocking a snook at arrangements made by the Forest team to contain it. The team comprising Ranger PK Gautam Deputy Rangers Avinash Dhariwal, GP Mishra Uday Raj Pawar and SDO Forest DC Vyas then transported the panther to Indore where it was undergoing treatment.

Sudhir Kumar, Ujjain Conservator of Forest told that the big cat would be released at proposed sanctuary at Omkareshwar. However, he failed to furnish details whether caught panther gained consciousness or not. Though, there is no thick forest cover in Ujjain, sources believed that the panther might have strayed from Kaytha Forest in Tarana Tehsil as few days ago pug-marks of panther were spotted at the place. It might have strayed to Ujjain instead of going to Dewas forest, they opined.