On Friday around 9.30 pm, a local youth, Raju Pawar, was on his way to the Sonbhairav temple on his two-wheeler in Khandad village, Mangaon, in Maharashtra's Raigad district when he saw an unknown and unusual animal on the ground near the village. Raju Pawar and his friend Shashikant Pawar stopped to get a closer look of the animal. As there was a meeting of the villagers in the temple premises, a crowd had gathered to observe the unfamiliar animal. The villagers immediately contacted Shantanu Kuveskar, a wildlife researcher from Mangaon.

Kuveskar reached the spot and informed the forest department about the sighting. Until the forest guard reached the spot, Kuveskar explained about the animal to the villagers of Khandad.

There is no natural habitat available for the pangolin to live permanently in Khandad village or its surrounding areas. Therefore, Kuveskar speculated that the pangolin may have swept into the village during the recent flooding of the Kal river.