In Focus: Why Killer 'Leopard' In Meerut Not Captured Yet?

By Sameer Ahuja | Meerut 

From last two days, a leopard has become the centre of attraction in Meerut. On Sunday, it was seen in the market for the first time. Thereafter, he went inside a hospital in Cantonment area. Here, he was captured in a room but he escaped after breaking the window.

The search operation for the leopard is still on. According to reports, the leopard is hiding in the cantonment area yet.

Last time, the leopard was seen at Vidyalaxmi Complex on Monday at around 3:30 pm. The officials of forest department as well as army men are tracking him constantly. People are told to remain at homes and keep the doors and windows closed.
In the past days, a leopard was also spotted in Muzzafarnagar. It is not yet clear if it is the same leopard. On the other hand, the terror of the leopard still prevails in Bijnor and Saharanpur districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The question here rises that how hard is it to catch a leopard? The members of army and Forest Department have already been appointed the task and even after two days, they have failed to do it. Even after tracking the leopard continuously, they could not capture it. The whereabouts of the leopard are even known unlike the buffaloes of SP leader Azam Khan which were tracked within 48 hours after they were stolen from his well protcted farm house.

Nearly 10 people were arrested during the search operation of Azam Khan's cattle. Also, three policemen who were on patrol duty near Azam Khan's house, on the day of the theft were stripped off their post and shifted to police lines, after 7 buffaloes went missing from his home.

So, isn't catching this wild leopard that has already injured people in the district more important of a task to do? For how long will the forces just keep tracing the whereabouts of the leopard?

When the case was about recovering the buffaloes of Khan, sniffer dogs were used to trail the trace, 5 separate teams conducted the search in the district and CCTV footage of meat factories were also analyzed to track the entire livestock. Finding the buffaloes had become the top priority project for the UP police.

But the government is ready to risk the lives of people by not making enough efforts to capture the leopard. This clearly states that Azam Khan used his power to find his cattle and lives of common people are being put into risk for that matter.