No leopard pugmarks found: Forest dept

Pragathinagar: Finally, police and forest officials came to a conclusion that there was no leopard straying at Pragathinagar. They said that after a night-long search, not even footprints of a leopard could be traced.

However, Bachupally police took two persons into custody and were questioning. T Shanker, Sub-Inspector, Bachupally, speaking to The Hans India, said that on Wednesday night around 10:45 pm, they received a call through dial 100 by a nearby private school in-charge, informing them about the sighting of a leopard.

The caller also claimed to have listened to the roar of the animal at Pragathinagar. On receipt of information police, rushed there and searched for whereabouts of leopard, but in vain. The forest officials also searched the area thoroughly and concluded that there was no straying of leopard as there were no pugmarks.

The SI ruled out that leopard might have migrated from Narsapur forest area. He said that there was no link between Narsapur forest and Pragathinagar area. A few locals also informed that they had sighted foxes in the past, but a leopard was never sighted nor heard in this area.

Forest officials opine that the animal suspected to be a leopard in fact could be jungle cat. As the area is fully developed with huge buildings, wild animals would not venture into such areas, the SI added. He also ruled out that anybody played roaring sounds on loud speaker, but a few locals insist that they heard the roar.