Marol resident Suresh Shinde got the shock of his life on Monday morning when he spotted a leopard resting on a car in a parking lot here. The big cat, too, scared of the human presence, fled the spot by jumping over a wall and took refuge in the ground floor passage of Woodland Crest building. It was successfully rescued by the forest department officials after a three-hour-long challenging operation.'

"We got a call around 10 am immediately after which our Leopard Rescue Team along with the SGNP rescue team reached the spot. It was a challenging operation since the sub-adult leopard had taken refuge in the premises of a residential building but we successfully managed to rescue it thanks to good coordination between the forest department, police, fire brigade and volunteers involved in the operation," Deputy Conservator of Forest Dr Jitendra Ramgaonkar told mid-day.