Hyderabad: “For a moment, I thought, I am dead. Suddenly, I realised I could save several people from its (leopard’s) attack.” These were the words of police constable A. Lakshmaiah, who survived a leopard attack at Shadnagar on Monday.
The 36-year-old constable was among Shadnagar police personnel who rushed to the house of Manne Vijay Kumar at Patel Road in Shadnagar, on receiving an alert that a leopard had entered the house and was resting on the terrace.
The police received the call at around 7.30 am, and a team under Shadnagar ACP V. Surender and inspector A. Sreedhar Kumar went to the house at Patel Road.
The leopard was indeed resting on the terrace of the house and, in no time, reports spread in the locality and hundreds of people climbed to their terraces to see the leopard.
When forest department officials shot tranquilliser darts at the leopard, it went wild and started pacing the terrace and then went downstairs. Lakshmaiah and another constable were busy getting the public to disperse when the leopard came suddenly from the rear and attacked Mr Lakshaimah.
He suffered injuries to his left forearm and shoulder. The leopard then jumped from the building and became unconscious as the drug took effect.
The injured constable was provided first aid and then shifted to Apollo Hospital in the city for better treatment and was put in the Intensive Care Unit for observation.
Inspector Sreedhar Kumar, who spoke with Lakshmaiah after the attack, said, “Lakshmaiah panicked. But he was brave and did not run away, as there were several people with him. The leopard clawed him on the forearm and bit him on the shoulder, just five inches above the heart. The injury is close to over one-and-a-half-inches deep. He is so lucky to have escaped the attack.”
Mr Kumar said Mr Lakshmaiah constable had told him, “For a moment, I thought I am dead. Then suddenly, I realised I could save several people from its (leopard’s) attack. The injuries are small and nothing will happen.”
The 2009 batch police constable hails from Kucherkal in Mahbubnagar district. He lives with his wife and two children, aged 18 and 17 at Shadnagar.
The doctors at Apollo Hospital said Lakshmaiah was brought in at around 1.30 pm, with lacerations on the left forearm and shoulder caused by an attack by a leopard. He is under observation, conscious and coherent.
