New Delhi: In a remarkable incident of bravery, a minor boy from Maharashtra's Malegoan narrowly avoided danger when a leopard suddenly entered the room where he was seated. The incident occurred on Wednesday when the 12-year-old boy, identified as Mohit Ahire, was engrossed in his mobile phone.
The video of the incident caught on a CCTV camera has since gone viral.
As seen in the video, the moment the boy spotted the leopard entering through the door, he sneaked out of the room quietly before locking the door behind him.
Sharing the video on social media platform X, a user wrote, "What an amazing presence of mind Mohit Ahire, a 12-year-old boy, locked a leopard inside an office cabin until assistance arrived in Malegaon & the leopard was rescued. Mohit immediately informed his father, who is a security guard, that he trapped a leopard inside the office."
Ahire immediately alerted his father about the leopard. “The leopard was so close. There was hardly any space between the leopard and me,” the 12-year-old told Times of India (TOI).
“It walked into the inner cabin of the office right in front of me. I was scared, but I quietly got off the bench and sneaked out of the office. I closed the door behind me," he added.
Meanwhile, a male leopard escaped from a quarantine centre located near a zoo in Pune and was captured after about 40 hours following a multi-team operation involving more than 100 personnel and the use of thermal drone cameras, officials said
The big cat, aged seven-and-a-half years, is suspected to have escaped from the quarantine facility in the early hours of Monday by bending a bar of the cage, reported PTI.
"Officials found the leopard missing from the quarantine centre situated near the Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park at around 9 am on Monday, following which an extensive search operation involving over 100 personnel from the zoo, quarantine centre, forest department and fire department. Multiple thermal drone cameras were deployed to trace the wild animal," he said, reported PTI.
"At around 9.15 pm on Tuesday, the spotted animal walked into a trap cage baited with a chicken. The leopard had food on Sunday night. It entered the cage in search of food and was captured. The feline is in good health," the official added.