Leopard scare grips district court complex in Ghaziabad, lawyers abstain from work

Lawyers at the district court here abstained from work on Thursday after rumours that a leopard had entered the complex.

The forest department, however, denied the presence of any leopard there.

The scare comes days after a leopard had strayed into the court complex and attacked and injured 10 people. The animal was caught after a four-hour operation.

This time, the rumour apparently spread after CCTV footage surfaced showing an animal inside the campus of IMT college which is adjoining the district court.

But Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Manish Singh said no animal had entered the court complex.

No leopard entered the premises of the district court. The animal, which was seen in the video, was a common cat, Singh said.

Lawyers, however, abstained from work after a decision was taken by the district bar council of Ghaziabad. All the gates of the court complex were closed, former bar council president Nahar Singh Yadav claimed.

"Even after the confirmation from the forest department that no leopard had entered the court complex, we deployed ample police force as a precautionary measure," Additional Commissioner of Police, Kavingar area Abhishek Srivastav said.