First spotted at 5.30 am, the leopard first pounced on Sharddha Govelkar. Her husband said: “Sharddha was knocking at the door around 5.30 am. Our two-year-old son Aryan was also with her. Suddenly, the leopard pounced on her from behind, but she saved Aryan.” The Govelkars live in the Gokuldaswadi area of the Khopat.

Sharddha received injures on her head and neck, he said, adding that the leopard fled after she started screaming. But even the doctors at Thane Civil Hospital refused to believe that Govelkar was attacked by a leopard. No one knew where did it vanish after the attack.

At around 9.30 am, workers at the Shreeram Timber godown in Bata compound had just started the wood cutting machine when the leopard began to roar. The scared workers fled, but locked the doors of godown. The owner immediately informed the Naupada police.

By the time the police arrived, the locals and the media had crowded the spot. The leopard then attacked Nandu Kumawat, a local resident, who went looking for it despite the police warning him. He sustained injuries on his left hand and forehead.

The forest officials were not unclear how the leopard strayed so far from the jungle. The SGNP is some 3 km from the spot where the leopard was first spotted. Also, the area adjoining the park is thickly populated with housing complexes and slums.

“It could have crossed the Eastern Express Highway when there isn’t much traffic on the road,” said Bhaskarao Walimbe, the Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF), who was monitoring the operation to trap the animal.

Initially, the forest officials set up a trap and lured the leopard with a dog. They even tried to scare it with firecrackers, but even that proved futile. The forest officially finally managed to tranquillise the leopard around 8 pm.

“When the trap did not work, we decided to tranquillise it in the night,” Walimbe said.

“People should not be surprised if a leopard strays outside the park as one cannot control it,” said S K Khetrapal, chief conservator of forest. He, however, warned: “People should take care as leopards can stray outside and attack people in the night or early morning.”

He said the forest department was also building a wall adjoining the Ghodbunder Road.