'Most Wanted' Monkey, With Rs 21,000 Bounty, Captured After 20 Attacks

A monkey with a Rs 21,000 bounty on its head was finally caught yesterday after two weeks of terror in Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh town during which it attacked 20 people.

Last evening, a rescue team called in from Ujjain teamed up with local officials and local residents to catch the ferocious monkey on the prowl. The team used a drone to locate the monkey, managed to tranquilise it using darts and then put it in a cage.

Visuals from the spot showed dramatic scenes: a crowd raised Jai Shri Ram and Jai Bajrang Bali slogans as the forest department staff carried the tranquilised monkey in a net to an animal rescue vehicle. Later, when it came back to its senses, the monkey was seen

Terror in the area due to the monkey's attacks can be gauged by the visual of a man keeping guard on his home's terrace with a gun.

Among the 20-odd people the monkey attacked in the past fortnight were eight children. The monkey, officials said, would perch on a roofs and window sills and suddenly pounce on people. Many of those injured suffered deep gashes that required multiple stitches.

A CCTV camera in the area captured the monkey in action. The footage showed the monkey pouncing on an elderly man and pulling him to the ground. The seconds-long attack left a deep injury on the man's thigh.

After repeated efforts to catch the notorious attacker failed, local authorities announced a cash prize of Rs 21,000 and also called in a special rescue team.

"The municipality did not have the means to catch that monkey. We reached out to the District Collector and with his help, called in a rescue team of the forest department from Ujjain. The municipality staff and local residents helped them, but it still took 4 hours to catch the monkey," Rajgarh municipal corporation's chairman Vinod Sahu said.

"We had offered a cash prize of Rs 21,000 for catching the monkey. We will give it to the animal rescue team now," he said.

Forest officer Gaurav Gupta said the local team in Rajgarh tried to catch the monkey for the past two weeks but did not succeed. "We reached out to special teams in several districts. As soon as the Ujjain team was available, they rushed to Rajgarh and after a four-hour operation, we caught the monkey."

On where the captured monkey will be released, the officer said, "Most probably, it will be released in a dense forest area so that it cannot harm people."