JAIPUR, India (Reuters) – Less than a week after a mysterious “monkey man” triggered panic in the Indian capital, panic gripped the northwestern state of Rajasthan where villagers said they had been attacked by a similar looking creature.
But police said people in the desert state’s Nagaur district had been attacked Monday by a wild cat that strayed into people’s homes to escape the blistering heat.
“The creature has been identified as a wild cat which entered Nagaur district due to heat wave conditions prevailing in the western parts of Rajasthan,” a senior police official in Rajasthan told Reuters Tuesday.
Local police have sought the help of forest officials to track down the animal.
Last week, parts of New Delhi were terrorized by reports of a marauding “monkey man” that attacked people in the city of 13 million at random.
But New Delhi police said their investigations showed that the “monkey man” was neither man nor monkey but a result of public hysteria.
Descriptions of the nocturnal “monkey man” varied wildly with some saying it was a monkey-like creature with metallic claws and others saying it was like a cat with tawny, glowing eyes.
