GWALIOR: A male cheetah cub that ventured out of the Kuno National Park (KNP) died after being hit by an unidentified vehicle on a highway in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district early on Sunday, police said.

The incident took place on a national highway in the Ghatigaon area near the Shivpuri district border, about 35–40 km from Gwalior, Gwalior Zone IG Arvind Saxena told PTI.

The nearly 20-month-old cub had wandered out of Kuno National Park and got separated from its mother. It died after being hit by an unidentified vehicle, he added.

A member of the police probe team said they have got some leads about a car suspected of having hit the cheetah.

"We have reduced traffic and curtailed speed on the highway to prevent any untoward incident, as another male cub separated from the same mother might still be around. Both were earlier spotted together," the official said.

Forest officials reached the spot and were searching for the other cheetah cub in the area, police said.

"The other cub was safe," State Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) Subharajan Sen told PTI.

He said the dead cub was the offspring of Gamini, a cheetah imported from South Africa to help revive India's big cat population, which lost the world's fastest animal seven decades ago.

Earlier, a cheetah cub was found dead on Friday, a day after being released into the wild at KNP.