Panic gripped the city as a leopard strayed into a thickly populated residential area from the adjacent jungles on Monday and attacked three people, including a minor girl, police said.
According to Nashik police, a full-grown leopard entered the Ramwadi locality of the city around 6.30 a.m. and was sighted by some people going for their morning walks.
Word about the big cat sighting spread like wildfire and people started running helter-skelter to safety as the leopard hunted for small prey like dogs or goats. But the scared animal pounced on three people, including a minor girl, as it attempted to escape and bolt back to the forests adjacent to the city.
Police summoned forest department officials who arrived on the scene and initiated efforts to drive the leopard back to the jungles.
The injured trio has been rushed to a nearby hospital, and both police and forest officials assured the animal would be trapped soon.
Incidentally, just four days ago, forest officials had trapped a leopard from the Sinnar subdistrict of Nashik and released it in the jungles.
It had attacked and killed a tribal resident Kashabai Ughade of Waghdarawadi village.