A picture of a leopard by a tree, people reportedly having sighted two leopards skulking around schools and television channel ‘visuals’ kept Whitefield and its surround areas on tenterhooks through Tuesday night and most of Wednesday.
Three days after a dramatic operation netted a leopard that had strayed into Vibgyor High School, social media and residents of the sprawling area pockmarked with IT companies and residential complexes, went into a tizzy as rumours of more felines kept pouring in.
The intensity of the fear was such that many people living behind the school and Turubarahalli started to burst crackers and even lit a grove on fire on Tuesday night. In some areas, large groups of people with sticks were seen roaming around nearby grassland patches in search of the ‘elusive’ feline.
Nearly 40 officials of the forest department as well as the local police descended to the area to scour around for ‘clues’ confirming the presence of another leopard. “We must have walked around 15-km through the night, apart from rounds on jeeps to groves, residential complexes and through make-shift colonies housing construction labourers. We have no seen anything so far that would indicate the presence of a leopard,” said Deputy Range Forest Officer Jaganath Reddy.
The department continued to receive calls of fear, of possible sightings through the night. “We just don’t know how to assess the situation. These are hoax calls that come frequently, but, we have to go to the spot to confirm it. Almost every hour, we are forced to rush to Nellurhalli,” said an officer.
It was at Nellurhalli on Tuesday afternoon that the ‘sighting’ of a leopard had seen officers swoop in. Nearly three hours later, officers called off the search after being convinced there was no leopard around. However, barely a few hours later, more calls poured in.
