Vadodara, October 17: A crocodile appeared at a garba venue in Vadodara's Piparia village, triggering panic among participants. The seven-foot-long crocodile kept roaming around the garba event for about an hours before the forest department captured it. The presence of reptile was reported around Monday midnight when the Navratri event was about to end.

The crocodile was spotted less than 500 meters away from the spot where villagers were playing 'Sheri garba' at around 2 am. Panic-stricken villagers immediately informed the forest department. Rescuers had a tough time to calm the furious reptile as it kept snapping at the rescuer’s stick. They struggled to put a jute bag on its eyes as the crocodile kept twisting and turning. Teenager Kidnapped While Returning Home from ‘Garba’ Event in Maharashtra.

“We finally managed to rescue the crocodile at around 3 am and brought it to the nursery in Vadodara at 5 am,” Jignesh Parmar, member of forest department’s rescue team, told Times of India. There had been reports of the presence of a crocodile at Pipaliya lake. The forest department suspects the same crocodile entered inside the village on Monday night.

“Five months back, we had kept a cage on the lake’s bank after villagers reported about the presence of a crocodile. But we did not trap a single reptile. ...We are still wondering how it reached this spot which is quite far away from the lake," a forester was quoted as saying.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 17, 2018 11:54 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).