Bhubaneswar: The usually crowded Jayadev Vatika at Khandagiri on the city outskirts remained closed for the visitors on Saturday after a wild elephant strayed into the park here late on Friday night.

The animal entered the premises after breaking part of the boundary wall and wandered in and around the park till Saturday evening. The movement of the elephant was recorded in the closed-circuit television cameras installed in the vicinity.

Though no one was injured, the pachyderm caused panic in the neighbourhood.

"It was inside the park and at times came on the main road. It was terrifying," said Prashant Jena, who saw it.

Forest officials remained alert inside the park till late on Saturday evening trying to chase the elephant into the Chandaka reserve forest. Sources said it was the same elephant that had strayed into a farmland of the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) at Ghatikia on Thursday.

An elephant was spotted at the OUAT farmland and it later moved to the nearby research garden of the university. A forest department official said they had successfully driven the elephant away from the farmland, but the same one could have strayed into Jayadev Vatika on Friday night.

Elephants usually move in herds and this particular one might have got separated from its group.

"They like to move at night. This elephant might have been searching for an escape route and ended up inside Jayadev Vatika. More than 30 officials are there to drive it away," said an official.

"I came with my friends to Jayadev Vatika early on Saturday morning, but we were stopped at the entrance. Somebody said an elephant had entered the park and was still there," said Kalinga Vihar resident Priyanka Majhi.