A leopard strayed into Bollywood actress Hema Malini's bungalow here Friday morning and created panic in the area, an official said.

The leopard was sighted in the bungalow premises in Malad by a security guard and a domestic help around 7.30 a.m.

The big cat's presence caused panic in the vicinity and the people from the neighbourhood contacted the forest department for help, said Chief Conservator of Forests (Thane Circle) S.A. Thorat.

"We had sent a team of forest officials to the place equipped with tranquilisers and a cage to try and trap the leopard. However, we thoroughly searched the premises and the surrounding areas also, but it had apparently escaped into the forest," Thorat told Friday afternoon.

Hema Malini was not at home at the time and nobody was attacked by the animal.

Thorat assured people that leopard does not normally attack humans unless provoked or it is scared. It generally runs after small prey like dogs and pigs, and can travel long distances of 30-50 km in a single night.

The Sanjay Gandhi National Park, spread over around 100 square km in northwest Mumbai has over five dozen leopards and many other wild animals living in the thick cover of the forest.

Leopards often stray into the sprawling housing complexes, the Film City, the Aarey Milk Colony, Dahisar, Borivli, Kandivili, Malad, Goregaon and other western suburbs and Mulund, Bhandup on the eastern side.

There have been at least five instances in the past couple of years of leopards, chasing preys, getting run over by speeding vehicles on the Western Express and Eastern Express highways.