Leopard strays into Lucknow wedding venue, snatches cop's rifle: Viral video

A leopard gatecrashed a wedding in Lucknow, causing panic among guests who sought refuge in cars until the animal was tranquilized after four hours.

A wedding was gatecrashed by a leopard in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow on Wednesday night, creating panic among the guests. The feline strayed into the wedding venue and could only be tranquilised after hours, forcing the groom and the bride to take refuge in a car.

A forest official named Mukaddar Ali was also injured when attacked by the big cat, says report.(X/@airnews_lucknow)

The incident happened in MM Lawn in Lucknow’s Buddheshwar road area late Wednesday night and was rescued after around four hours of efforts, reported ANI.

The police and forest department officials were immediately called to the venue and managed to catch the leopard at around 2 a.m. A forest official named Mukaddar Ali was also injured when attacked by the big cat, according to a PTI report.

Visuals of the incident are now in wide circulation on social media. In one such video, the panicked leopard can be seen charging at the police officials as they carefully make their way upstairs at the wedding venue where they spot the big cat. It also gets hold of the rifle of one the police officials at a point.

Take a look at the video here:

According to an eyewitness, the bride and groom rushed and locked themselves in a car till the leopard was caught, said the PTI report. Other guests also reportedly did the same after the straying leopard created panic among them.

Lucknow Divisional Forest Officer Sitanshu Pandey told ANI that it took them almost 4.5 hours to rescue the leopard and that around 203 people were present at the venue. While talking about where the leopard could have come from, he said, “There is a huge dense forest above Malihabad which has mango trees. Above that, there is also Lakhimpur Kheri, Dudhwa Tiger Reserve and Pilibhit Tiger Reserve. Since the leopard is an agile animal, it can come from anywhere.”

Akhilesh Yadav’s dig at UP government

Akhilesh Yadav took a shot at the current UP government for not being able to find a solution to the issue of stray animals. Calling the incident worrying, Yadav said that wild animals are being forced to enter cities in search of food because of human encroachment in forests, which he labelled as a form of corruption under the BJP government.

While sharing some visuals of the incident on X, formerly Twitter, Yadav wrote, “The 'jumlajivi' BJP government of UP was not yet able to find a solution to the problem of stray animals when it is faced with another challenge and that is the 'leopard' attack in the state capital.

The news of a leopard entering a wedding ceremony in Lucknow is worrying. One form of corruption in the BJP government is that human encroachment in forests is increasing, in such a situation, violent wild animals are being forced to come out of forests to cities in search of food, due to which the lives of common people are in danger.”

“Will there be any action or will the government cover up the incident by saying that it was not a leopard but an 'oversized cat' or else the name of the leopard may be changed to 'big cat' and the matter may be hushed up,” he added.