Forest officials caught the crocodile and put it back into the river (Representational)

A crocodile came out of a flooded river and crawled into a house at a village in Madhya Pradesh, causing panic among local residents, police said on Monday.

Forest officials caught the 10-foot long crocodile from Ghat-Pipariya village and released it back into the Sunar river, some 26km from the district headquarters, on Monday morning, said Hindoria police station inspector Vijay Mishra.

According to Ghat-Pipariya sarpanch Rohit Jain, the huge reptile entered the house of one Kandhi Lal on Sunday night when it was raining heavily, creating panic among his family members and other residents of the village.

Kandhi Lal, on spotting the crocodile, rang up forest officials and the police, he said.

When they did not turn up, villagers tied the reptile with ropes and put it on a road, the sarpanch said.

Forest officials came to the village in the early hours, caught the crocodile and put it back into the river.

Apparently, the crocodile came out of the river after its water level increased following heavy rains and found its way into the nearby village, police said.

Last month, forest officials had caught a crocodile after it entered a residential area in Gujarat's Vadodara district.