Mumbai: Monkey’s two-month ‘reign of terror’ ends with its rescue

MUMBAI: A monkey which had “unleashed terror” among Worli residents over the last two months was caged and carted away on Wednesday. The monkey, which had been romping about around a municipal colony on Dr E Moses Road, had bit “quite a few people” in the locality, said residents of chawls around the place.
About a fortnight ago, it took a huge bite of Suman Kamble’s hand, said Santoshi Kotwal, a neighbour.Kamble, an elderly woman, works as a gardener at a nearby crematorium. The monkey was around for more than four months but it started attacking only over the last couple of months or so, said Kotwal.
“Earlier, it used to perch itself on the guava tree outside my home. It would even eat out of my hands, but never attacked me. Of late though, it bit many around this place,” said Kotwal, adding that the monkey had grown familiar with the labyrinthine lanes of Kamble Nagar.
Similarly, Manoj Mahadik of BMC Chawl, located a few metres away, said his brother Suhas was bitten a month ago. “He had to take eight injections,” said Mahadik. “The monkey had spread terror around this place.”
The forest department had set up a cage, but it failed to catch the monkey. It was trapped around 4.30pm after a 3-hour search, said Abdul Hakim Shaikh, a rescuer from Kalote Animal Trust.
A small trap with a tiny pot of goodies was kept near the racecourse-end of the locality. “The monkey came sniffing around for the food and it stepped onto the trap which gets a soft grip on its paw,” said Shaikh. “I threw a noose around its waist and got him into a cage.” The monkey is now in the custody of forest authorities.
Though residents are relieved, a few said they miss the monkey’s histrionics. Sandeep Kamble, a resident of BMC Chawl, said he enjoyed watching the monkey’s “dadagiri (hooliganism)” early morning recently. “It sidled up close to a woman selling milk on the street, grabbed a few coins from her kitty kept beside her and stuffed them into his mouth. Next, it yanked a few notes of Rs 500. The woman started to scream and tried to take back her money,” said Kamble. “Her attempts to get it back were met with aggression and resistance… After playing around with the notes, it spat the coins out, threw the crumpled notes on the road and vamoosed, much to the milk vendor’s relief.”