Leopard inside DRDO facility on Alandi Road, search operation underway

At 3 am Tuesday, a staffer from the security detail of the R&DE was alerted by continuous barking of dogs. The staffer then alerted all the units and went to the nearby watchtower building and locked the staircase from inside. From the watchtower, he saw a leopard that had ventured into the compound. The guard also captured video of the leopard on his phone, officials said. The area where the leopard was sighted has several research facilities of the R&DE but is separated from the residential premises of the staffers and scientists.

Deputy Conservator of Forest (Pune Division) Rahul Patil said their teams have responded to a call about the leopard sighting inside the R&DE. “After receiving the call from the authorities, we launched a search operation in the area.” Wildlife rescue experts from the ResQ Charitable Trust also joined the effort.

PM Kurulkar, Director of R&DE, said, “After sighting the leopard, we put in place adequate movement precautions. There were important meetings scheduled on Tuesday that were conducted in other buildings located at a safer distance. We are coordinating with the Forest Department teams. We have deployed drones for the search operation with cameras from the forest department.”

Forest officials said a compound wall of the establishment is being reconstructed and it has been temporarily secured with tin sheets. The leopard is suspected to have ventured into R&DE campus through gaps in these tin sheets. Range Forest Officer Mukesh Sanas said, “We initiated the search with the help of pugmarks. We are installing at least 20 camera traps in and around the campus. The search operation will continue till the leopard is located or we definitively confirm that it has returned to the forest area.”

Kurulkar added, “Movement precautions will remain till the time forest department teams conclude their operation as per the standard operating procedure. Meanwhile, we are putting in place continued vigil of the area in coordination with forest officials. The work on the compound wall will also be completed.”

R&DE (Engineers), a premier facility of the DRDO, is engaged in indigenous development of various engineering systems for the Indian defence forces.

Earlier in the third week of March, a leopard had ventured into the campus of Mercedes-Benz India in Pune’s Chakan. The animal was rescued before noon by forest department personnel and wildlife rescue experts with the help of local police.