Attacks by leopards continue unabated with the death toll going up to eight this month even as three students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Powai, were chased by this animal recently.

The victims are three children and five adults, with the penultimate victim being a 60-year-old Kuldeep Singh who was killed by a leopard when he went out jogging with friends in a park in suburban Mulund. Forest authorities have said the park, built with a local legislator's help, was part of the forest area and have warned residents not to venture into the jungle.

And in another part of city where the leopard was once a harmless and majestic visitor to the IIT campus, situated on the southern periphery of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) near Powai Lake, the students are jittery after Tuesday night.

"I was cycling back to my hostel from my lab at 12.30 am when I heard a growl and saw something pounce on me from the bushes," Anand Prakash, a fifth year student of mechanical engineering told Gulf News.

He cycled harder and apparently another cyclist who saw him being chased fell off in shock but luckily for him, the noise of an autorickshaw drove away the animal.

But the leopard was back in less than an hour at the same spot and this time it started chasing a student on a motor bike. "The biker rode at full speed, with the leopard managing to touch his leg but missing him," says Prakash.

IIT's public relations officer, Aruna Dixit, told Gulf News, "We are taking these incidents seriously and have heightened patrolling throughout the campus at nights. We have also installed emergency phone lines at vantage points apart from putting up three cages to capture the leopard."

The 500-acre campus has 5,000 students and with the staff and families the total population is 12,000 .

While the long-term measures would be to complete the construction of the boundary wall with SGNP, the immediate steps are to warn students from walking alone at nights and to move in groups to be on the safe side.

Prakash, who hails from Bhagalpur, said he has spotted the leopard a number of times."The animal would look at us nonchalantly. Circulars from our college warned us not to provoke the animal and appear calm if it was spotted. We were advised to immediately open our umbrellas to look taller. Last year, there were around sixty sightings of the leopard in our campus but no one was attacked. In fact, we had caught eight leopards in cages."

But the situation has certainly changed now. He says he does not buy the theory that the leopard has tasted human blood and has therefore turned a maneater.

"It is simply a matter of humans being easy prey. Students are certainly afraid but are careful not to move alone at nights. The other day I had to spend the night at my lab since there were no students to return back to the hostel."

The Maharashtra government has finally woken up to the gravity of the situation and Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has said he would ask the Public Works Department to speed up the construction of a wall around the SGNP.

The government is awaiting a Supreme Court order regarding relocating encroachers in the SGNP so that the forest department can complete the construction of the boundary wall.

ON THE PROWL

Feline's victims
• Arun Wagle, 70, in Bhandup on June 22
• Kuldeep Chahal, 60, in Mulund on June 20
• Ruchita Pukale, 3, in Aarey Colony on June 17
• Nagamma Poojari, 4, in Goregaon on June 14
• Nanga Baba in Powai on June 12
• Babban Bhopi, 45, in Vihar Lake on June 9
• Neeraj Gurode, 3, in Aarey Colony on June 8
• Kanchan Yadav, 6, in Aarey Colony on June 2