In what may have spooked some of the most powerful men in the state of Gujarat, a leopard entered the state secretariat premises of the state, a building located near the residences of the Chief Minister and some other senior minister in the government. As seen in the video, the leopard entered the premises right through the gates of the secretariat. A camera installed to monitor the movement around the gates recorded the footage showing the leopard sneaking into the area from beneath a locked door. Soon, the secretariat informed forest officials who later caught the leopard.

The secretariat employees and officials were asked not to enter the complex, which also houses the assembly building, till the wild animal is captured. “The leopard may have lost its way and entered into the premises. We will either catch him or make sure he leaves the complex,” said Rajeev Kumar Gupta, additional chief secretary, Forest Department. Gupta further said that the leopards are part of wildlife found in 40 to 50 square km area surrounding the state capital.

Leopard roaming in residential areas in Gujarat is not something that didn’t happen before. On Sunday, another leopard, aged around three, was killed after being hit by an unknown vehicle in the state’s Junagarh district. The Leopard’s carcass was found on Junagarh-Somnath highway. A similar incident had occurred in October month.

In May, a woman was injured and her four-month-old son was snatched away by a leopard which attacked them in Gujarat’s tribal-dominated Chhota Udaipur district, about 100 kilometres from Vadodara. “Vikram Rathwa, wife Sapna and their four-month-old son were travelling on a motorcycle when the leopard attacked them yesterday near Raipur village in Pavi Jetpur tehsil in Chhotaudepur,” said an official.