A wedding ceremony in Lucknow turned into a nightmare for the guests when an unsolicited visitor made an entry into the banquet hall in the Budheshwar area on Hardoi Road on Wednesday night.

As the marriage was in progress, a leopard appeared in the hall from nowhere. With the sudden entry of the predator all hell broke with panic-stricken guests running helter and skelter to save their lives.

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While a cameraman busy taking photos jumped off the stairs when he suddenly noticed the carnivore. The bride and the groom, while scrambling for safety, found shelter in a car and locked themselves inside.

The order was restored in the hall with the arrival of teams of the police and Forest Department. After evacuating the hall, the police team ordered a drone. With the help of the drone they located the leopard on the terrace of the building.

As the Forest Department team was climbing the stairs to reach out to the leopard the black cat suddenly appeared in front of them. A policeman was so terrified by the sight of the ferocious animal in front of him that he ran downstairs in panic throwing his rifle away.

The leopard then attacked and injured Police Sub-Inspector Mukaddar Ali. Luckily, the injuries were not serious.

After this, the animal kept running around in the entire marriage hall for at least three hours dodging the officials before the Forest Department personnel managed to catch him with much difficulty, the police confirmed.