AGRA: In an incident that sent shock waves in the area, a leopard walked into a classroom and attacked a student at Chaudhary Nihal Singh Inter College in Aligarh’s Chharra area on Wednesday morning.
Lakhiraj Singh, 15, a student of class X, was entering his classroom at around 8.30 am when he spotted the big cat. Even as he tried to run away, the feline caught hold of his right arm and clawed his back, leaving him bleeding profusely. A few teachers and other students meanwhile raised an alarm on hearing Singh’s cries for help.
Amidst the din, the leopard ran off and hid in a classroom. Forest officials were called in and an operation was mounted to evacuate the big cat. The rescue operation, which started around 10 am, lasted for over 9 hours, and the big cat was eventually evacuated with assistance from personnel of an NGO, Wildlife SOS, at 7.30 pm.
Speaking about the terrifying experience, Lakhiraj Singh said, “When the leopard caught hold of my right hand, I tried to shake it off and somehow managed to free myself but it then clawed my back, which led to a lot of bleeding.”
Speaking to TOI, principal of the inter college, Yogesh Yadav said, “We immediately sent the other students home and closed the main door of the college premises. The injured student was taken to a government hospital where he was administered treatment.” He added that around 50 students were present at the time of the incident that took place almost half-an-hour before the morning assembly.
Aligarh district forest officer, Diwakar Kumar Vashisth, said that they monitored the movement of the leopard through CCTV cameras installed in the premises and closed all escape routes to ensure the animal did not escape. On being queried the possible location from where the big cat had come, he said, “It is difficult to pinpoint the exact place, but chances are that it came from Sankra Ganga ghat, about 20km away.”
