PANVEL, Nov. 15 -- A series of leopard sightings in Nitalas, a village barely 12 km from Panvel, has sparked concern among residents even as the forest department, on Thursday, began patrolling the area. The leopard and cub spotted in Nitalas may have come from the nearby Matheran hill range, forest officials said, while residents said construction activity in the hills may have pushed wildlife closer to human settlements. The leopard and cub were first sighted in the outskirts of the village on Monday, residents said. Such encounters were rare but not entirely unexpected since the village was located at the edge of the forest, they noted. But when Kunal Kate, a Nitalas resident, spotted the same leopard and cub again around noon on Wednesday, villagers apprehended that the sighting were not chance encounters. Around 10.30pm on Wednesday, Nilesh Mhatre spotted the leopard and cub again near Chorambyachi Dongri, a hilly tract near the village, while returning home from his farm. "I stopped my van when I saw the animals and managed to film them using my mobile phone before they slipped into the tall grass," he said. "We began patrolling the area on Thursday but haven't found the animals yet," Panvel Range Forest Officer (RFO) Gajanan Panpatte told HT on Friday. "They may have gone back into the forest. But we are continuing night and day patrolling in the area." The forest department has put up banners and conducted an awareness campaign to ensure villagers stay safe, Panpatte noted. "We have urged villagers living near the forest to avoid venturing out alone at night," the RFO said. While forest officials claimed the leopard and cub may have come from the Matheran hill range, local residents linked the sightings to habitat disruption. "Large-scale construction, including blasting for tunnels along the Mumbai-Baroda Highway over the past three years may have restricted natural corridors and pushed wildlife closer to human settlements," said Ashish Mhatre....