Tempted by a bleating lamb on this occasion, the cat was caught near Oak building in the residential complex, before being carted away and released in the Nagla forest near Vasai by a watch-team that had lain in wait since the last four days.

The leopard, which had earlier refused a stray mongrel used as bait 25 days ago, was first spotted in the complex comprising 15 buildings several months ago. Refusing to obey the selfish boundaries of the encroaching concrete jungle, the cat, like many others from the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, had become increasingly bolder over the last month. On occasion, it was spotted curling up at the entrance of the buildings and padding along the pathways.

A fortnight ago, however, the Forest Office posted a watch-team in the complex toobserve the feline's movements. When they discovered that the cat was inclined to visit Oak building more than the others, they kept a lamb there as bait. ``The leopard was frequently seen by residents and an atmosphere of fear had developed. Now that we have caught and released him near Vasai, the residents can rest easy,'' says Range Forest Officer, Sameer Deshpande.

As residents awoke to news of the leopard's entrapment at 3 am today, they heaved a palpable sigh of relief. ``The cat had us really scared. Only two days ago, someone had spied him at 6 am. When we woke up today, there was a huge commotion outside and we realised he had been finally captured,'' says a resident, Madhuri Iyer.

However, residents fear the cat-and-mouse game will continue, saying there is more than one leopard lurking around the complex. According to Ravinder Malhotra of Bayhouse building: ``We have heard that there are at least four leopards frequenting our compound under the cover of darkness. We are so scared of beingattacked and losing our children that we rarely step out at night.''

But Deshpande assures: ``We have deployed a three-member team in the complex. If we spot any more wild cats, we shall lay more traps to catch them.''

Incidents of the big cats straying out of the Borivli National Park are startlingly frequent. At times, children and domestic animals from the adjacent slum and tribal pockets have also been dragged away by the leopards and panthers inhabiting the park, which borders the Yeoor Hills in Thane in the north. The abandoned industrial units and dense vegetation around Eden Woods make it an ideal haunt for the animals.

Deputy Conservator of Forests, A R Bharti, told Express Newsline

: ``There are more than 40 leopards in the park, of which about seven are in the Yeoor Hills. They have been roaming the park's outskirts area for many years in search of prey, where residential complexes have been constructed recently. It is more a case of man encroaching into the animal's habitat thanvice-versa.''