Panicked men run for safety as the leopard roams loose by the school pool Sunday in Bangalore.
The animal was next spotted on surveillance camera about two hours later but then vanished until midafternoon, he said.
Officials were on the brink of calling off the search when they spotted the leopard at about 3:30 p.m. in a bush behind the school, the police chief said.
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The leopard then ran into the school, where officials locked it inside a bathroom.
But it managed to escape through a ventilation duct into the swimming pool complex, where the attacks took place, Boralingaiah said.
Officials finally managed to strike the big cat with a tranquilizer dart at about 6.30 p.m., but it did not take full effect until about 8.15 p.m., he said.
Ralph said an estimated 1,500 leopards were in Karnataka state but that they rarely strayed far into urban areas.
India has some 12,000 to 14,000 leopards, according to a study the Wildlife Institute of India commissioned.