A leopard gate-crashed a wedding in Lucknow City on Wednesday night, sending the bride, groom, priest and guests scurrying to lock themselves in the cars parked on the lawns or inside the rooms of the three-storey marriage hall.

By the time forest officials had darted and tranquillised the animal around 3.15am, it had enjoyed a free run of the premises for close to six hours, surprising and injuring a forest guard and causing a wedding videographer to jump off the second floor.

The wedding rituals had to wait till morning for completion. Bride Jyoti Agrawal, forced to spend most of the night locked in a car with groom Akshay Srivastava, left for her new home around noon.

Jyoti Agrawal, the bride, and others run for their lives. (PTI picture)

It’s unclear from where the leopard came and how it arrived undetected at the venue: a marriage hall in the Budheshwar area of the state capital. The forest closest to the city — the southwestern edge of the Dudhwa National Park — is 200km away.

The leopard appears to have entered the wedding venue around 9.30pm. “We received the information around 10pm and quickly went there with forest department officials,” a police officer said.

“While we searched for the animal, it climbed onto the first floor and then the second floor of the building. It took us more than five hours to catch it,” he added.

It remains unclear how the big cat succeeded in evading the forest department team for so long a period in such a confined space.

“The animal injured Muqaddar Ali, a forest guard, in the right arm,” the officer said.

“Sharad Gautam, a videographer hired by the bride’s family, tried to capture some images of the leopard but jumped off the second floor after realising he was too close to it. They are under treatment and doctors say they both are safe.”

Akshay, the groom, told reporters that the videographer was his friend. “I had told him to take some pictures (of the couple) on the second floor. But he suggested we stay on the lawns and wait for his call, allowing him to set up the cameras there first,” he said.

Akshay said: “Suddenly someone spotted the leopard jumping onto the lawns from the backside. We ran to the cars to save ourselves. Some guests dashed inside the hall and locked themselves in the rooms.”

Vishwajee Srivastava, deputy commissioner of police, Lucknow West, said: “The animal was tranquillised (with a dart) on the first floor of the building. The forest department has taken it to Dudhwa National Park.”

Samajwadi Party president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav attacked the state’s BJP government, saying official “corruption” was allowing “human encroachment in forests” to increase, leading to more human-animal conflict.