Sitapur, Jan 29 (IANS): Forest officials have launched a search operation to locate and secure a tiger, which was spotted inside the premises of BJP leader Munindra Awasthi's farmhouse in Sandana village of Uttar Pradesh's Sitapur district.

The big cat was spotted at Awasthi's house on Saturday night and had been roaming freely for the past 24 hours according to Dinesh Gupta Forest Ranger, Sitapur district.

Awasthi's farmhouse is situated in Khevatarampur village of Naimisharanya police station area.

According to forest ranger Gupta, a dedicated team combed the farmhouse on Sunday, and efforts were intensified to locate and secure the tiger.

"Visual surveillance, including the use of drones, has been employed since Sunday evening to monitor the movements of the tiger," he said.

The Forest Department team has yet to successfully apprehend the tiger.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sitapur, Brij Mohan Shukla, said,"Plans are in place to employ a cage in the Sandana area to safely contain the tiger. The tiger will not be tranquillized as the it is not aggressive." He said that 10 to 12 members from the forest and police department were involved in the operation.

The presence of a tiger within a residential area has raised concerns among locals in the area.

In December last year, a tiger resting atop a wall in Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh drew a massive crowd before being rescued by forest officials.

A team of forest department officials rescued the big cat that had ventured into a man's house in the Athkona village, located nearly 20 km from Pilibhit Tiger Reserve forest.