Mumbai: Biker hits leopard at Aarey Colony, search on for injured cat

A leopard was injured after being hit by a biker on Wednesday night in Aarey Colony but disappeared into the bushes after that The incident was witnessed by a youngster on the bus coming from the other side The Forest Department has not been able to locate the wild cat so farThe leopard that was killed near ShahpurIn another incident a male leopard was killed after being hit by a speeding vehicle on the Mumbai Nasik highway near Shahpur in the wee hours of Thursday Range Forest Officer from Shahapur Territorial Range Prakash Chaudhari said ldquoOn Thursday around 5 am we received a call informing us that a leopard had been run over by a speeding vehicle near Atgaon in Shahpur Our team reached the spot and found the body of the male leopard at the side of the road A speeding vehicle might have hit the leopard and run over it while it was trying to cross the road It must have died on the spot as the injuries were grievousrdquoChaudhari also told midday that while patrolling at night he saw a huge leopard close to the accident spot during the lockdown and as such there are chances of there being a wildlife crossing point ldquoDuring the lockdown I had spotted a huge leopard close to the accident spot and last month a nilgai had also died while crossing the road nearby I appeal motorists using the busy Mumbai Nasik highway to drive slowly while crossing a forest patchrdquo Chaudhari saidThe incident in AareyOn Wednesday around 830 pm a biker hit a leopard that was crossing the main Aarey road and fell down The incident took place near a forest patch near Aarey hospital According to a resident the biker was going towards Marol from the Goregaon side Sultan Deepa Sharma 18 who works at a private company in Andheri East was travelling on a bus to Malad when he witnessed the incidentldquoI was travelling home from work in Andheri East While the bus was on the main road in Aarey I saw the leopard crossing the road and the biker coming from the Western Express Highway hitting him The bike passed over the leopard and the biker fell down The fullgrown leopard which appeared to be injured growled once and vanished into the bushes limpingrdquo Sharma said Seeing the biker fall down Sharma got down from the bus to help himldquoThe biker had injured his knees and was bleeding A Good Samaritan passing by in his car stopped to help us He gave first aid to the biker and I asked him to go home Then I informed Aarey police of the incident They contacted the forest departmentrdquo Sharma saidForest Department volunteer Imran Udat Satish Lot Wasim Athaniya along with Forest Department officials reached the spot of the accident and searched the area till late at night but could not locate the leopard Searches were conducted in the morning tooThreeNo of volunteers who joined forest officials in the search for the leopard in Aarey