SASARAM, Dec. 5 -- A leopard straying from the Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary into the plains attacked and injured 11 people, including three forest department personnel, at Kochas of Bihar's Rohtas district. The animal was finally rescued and caged by forest officials late on Wednesday evening, officials said. The incident occurred when farmers were harvesting paddy near the Kochas Power House. The leopard emerged from the embankments of the Dharmawati river and attacked Pradeep Kumar, injuring him. It then attacked farmers Manish Ojha and Ram Pravesh Singh, who raised an alarm, officials said. As hundreds of farmers and residents from the Kochas market rushed to the spot, the leopard fled into the Power House campus and then into Ward No. 3 of the town after crossing National Highway 319. Rohtas Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Stalin Fidal Kumar K reached the location with a rescue team. A trap was laid near an under-construction house where the animal was hiding, but it managed to escape and ran rapidly in different directions. The leopard went on to attack Nazir Husain, Md Ekram, Raj Kumar, and Ajay Kumar from the crowd that had gathered around it. Local youth Santosh Prasad sustained severe injuries, with claw wounds on nearly 40 parts of his head, face, neck, and body. After nearly three hours of intense effort, the forest team managed to entangle the leopard in a net. In the process, the animal also injured forest guard Santosh Sah and rescuers Rajiv Kumar and Vivek Kumar. The leopard was finally secured inside a cage, bringing relief to residents and officials. The DFO said all the injured-including forest personnel-were declared safe after treatment at the local community health centre. He added that despite repeated appeals from the rescue team to maintain distance and silence, several people continued making noise and crowding around the animal. This agitated the leopard, making it more aggressive and complicating the rescue operation. The captured leopard is being sent to the department's Rajgir centre for treatment and rehabilitation, the DFO said....