Saturday May 19 3:14 AM ET

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Police in the Indian capital said on Saturday they believed they were close to solving the case of the mysterious “monkey man,” blamed for attacks in which dozens of people have been bitten and clawed.

But there was no respite from complaints by residents in some New Delhi suburbs who flooded police with reports of sightings and attacks by an ape-like creature that has created hysteria in the sprawling city over the last week.

“We have already narrowed down our suspicion on the people involved in the mischief,” Joint Commissioner of Police Suresh Roy told Reuters. “We should be able to end this soon.”

Police have offered a reward of 50,000 rupees ($1,063) for information leading to the capture of the “monkey man,” which Roy said was not an animal, but “humans involved in mischief.”

Roy said police had arrested 12 people on charges of spreading rumors and creating panic in the city of 13 million people that is already gripped by fear.

Roy said police received numerous calls from panic-stricken residents in eastern and northeastern suburbs of the city on Friday night but most of the calls were hoaxes.

“The number of calls were lower than previous nights. Only eight calls were genuine of which seven reported some simple injuries,” Roy said.

Three frantic people have fallen to their deaths from buildings in the past week because they thought the mysterious creature was chasing them.

Vigilante bands have taken to the streets armed with hockey sticks and batons to track down the attacker.

Descriptions of the attacker looks have varied wildly. Some people have said that it had a metallic claw, others said it was like a cat with tawny glowing eyes and one said it had ”flaming red eyes and green lights glowing on its chest.”

Friday May 18 3:09 AM ET

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Police in India’s capital suspect that the mysterious “monkey man” who has bitten and clawed dozens of people, unleashing a wave of panic across the city, is the creation of a gang of trouble makers.

“It’s definitely not one person,” Joint Commissioner of Police Suresh Roy told Reuters on Friday. “Events seem to be happening at different places at the same time so it could be a number of mischief-makers who have formed a small gang.”

Newspapers said three people had now panicked and fallen to their death from buildings in the past week because they were convinced that the creature was pursuing them.

The Tribune said the latest victim leapt from the roof of a three-story building where he and a friend had been sleeping on Wednesday night.

Police offered a reward of $1,063 on Thursday for information leading to the capture of the “monkey man,” which they now believe is not an animal, and set up a special team to solve the puzzle.

Roy said the police were trying to quash the collective fear psychosis which has gripped some suburbs of the sprawling city and said rumor-peddlers would be dealt with harshly.

On Thursday night, the police received 80 calls from people saying they had seen the “monkey man,” but most were hoaxes. Only three people had injuries to show for alleged attacks.

Accounts of what the attacker looks like have varied wildly.

Some said it had a metallic claw, others said it was like a cat with tawny glowing eyes and one said it had “flaming red eyes and green lights glowing in its chest.”

Monkeys run wild in and around New Delhi, sometimes pouncing on unsuspecting pedestrians and entering houses. But Roy said victims’ accounts pointed to a human being.

Sanal Edamaruku of the Indian Rationalist Association said this week that the “monkey man” was a product of mass delusion.

“The recent panic… could well be totally baseless and nothing but a hallucination of groups of people with a tendency to hysterical psychosis,” he said.

Friday May 18 8:58 AM ET

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Vigilante mobs have taken to the streets of the Indian capital to track down a mysterious ”monkey man” blamed for attacks in which dozens of people have been bitten and clawed.

Police in New Delhi said Friday they suspected that the attacks, which have unleashed a wave of panic across the city, were the work of a gang of trouble makers.

“It’s definitely not one person,” Joint Commissioner of Police Suresh Roy told Reuters Friday. “Events seem to be happening at different places at the same time so it could be a number of mischief-makers who have formed a small gang.”

Newspapers said three people had now panicked and fallen to their death from buildings in the past week because they were convinced that the creature was pursuing them.

The Tribune said the latest victim leapt from the roof of a three-story building where he and a friend had been sleeping Wednesday night.

Thursday police offered a reward of 50,000 rupees ($1,063) for information leading to the capture of the “monkey man,” which they now believe is not an animal, and set up a special team to solve the puzzle.

But television news reports said that many of the city’s residents were taking the matter into their own hands, trawling the streets at night armed with hockey sticks and batons.

Star News said one frenzied mob caught and beat a man in the east of the city, only to discover that he was an innocent bystander.

Roy said the police were trying to quash the collective ”fear psychosis” which has gripped some suburbs of the sprawling city and said rumor-peddlers would be dealt with harshly.

Thursday night, the police received 80 calls from people saying they had seen the “monkey man,” but most were hoaxes. Only three people had injuries to show for alleged attacks.

Accounts of what the attacker looks like have varied wildly.

Some said it had a metallic claw, others said it was like a cat with tawny glowing eyes and one said it had “flaming red eyes and green lights glowing in its chest.”

Monkeys run wild in and around New Delhi, sometimes pouncing on unsuspecting pedestrians and entering houses. But Roy said victims’ accounts pointed to a human being.

Sanal Edamaruku of the Indian Rationalist Association said this week that the “monkey man” was a product of mass delusion.

“The recent panic… could well be totally baseless and nothing but a hallucination of groups of people with a tendency to hysterical psychosis,” he said.

But a group called the National Human Rights Council said it would be holding a religious ceremony in the heart of New Delhi Saturday to pray for the city’s release from the clutches of the ape-like menace.

Wednesday May 16 6:07 PM ET

By HEMA SHUKLA, Associated Press Writer

NEW DELHI, India (AP) – Police are blaming a band of men in masks for what they call hysteria among residents of New Delhi, who claim a mysterious “monkey man” has been attacking people late at night.

Police have received up to 50 sightings in one night of the alleged attacker – described by witnesses as a 4-foot tall creature with a hairy body and metal claws. At one point, police ran short of vehicles to check on the reports.

The hysteria has led to two deaths. A pregnant woman sleeping on her rooftop terrace died Tuesday night when she slipped running down the stairs as neighbors screamed that the monkey man had struck, the Statesman newspaper reported.

A man was killed Monday when he jumped off the roof of his house screaming, “The monkey has come!”

“It is nothing but mass hysteria,” said Manoj Kumar Lal, a deputy commissioner of police.

“It seems a group of people in masks are terrorizing people,” the Statesman quoted an unidentified police officer as saying.

Police have blamed the panic on uneducated poor people, many of them believers in the supernatural, and the sweltering heat and darkness due to electricity cuts.

Harassed police authorities in New Delhi have urged the state-run power company to ensure uninterrupted power supply from dawn to dusk so that panicked residents would feel safer.

Recently residents of a New Delhi suburb caught and beat up a 4-foot-tall wandering Hindu mystic, thinking he was the simian terror, the Statesman newspaper said.

He was handed over to police, and thousands crowded outside the station for a glimpse of the alleged monkey man, causing a near stampede.

Wednesday May 16 7:43 AM ET

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – “Monkey man” hysteria is sowing panic in India’s capital, with media reporting that two terrified residents fell to their death on hearing that an ape-like attacker was nearby.

Police said on Wednesday that they were no closer to solving the mystery of an ape-like creature which residents accuse of clawing and biting dozens of people in New Delhi suburbs over the past fortnight.

“We have consulted doctors about the bites and they said they were by some animal,” Joint Commissioner of Police Suresh Roy told Reuters.

“The information we have is pointing toward an animal. But we checked with the local zoo and they said no animal had escaped from there.”

Media reports said that the collective hysteria claimed a second life early on Tuesday after a pregnant woman sleeping on her terrace was woken by neighbors shouting: “The monkey has come!.” The woman fell down a staircase and died in hospital.

Two nights earlier, an industrial worker died in similar circumstances when he leapt in terror from a building at Noida, a southeastern suburb.

Roy said there had been no reports of injuries in the affected areas on Tuesday night.

But there had previously been dozens of calls about attacks — many of them bogus — from people who gave varying and sometimes bizarre descriptions of the now celebrated “monkey man.”

Two indentikit portraits put together with the help of the creature’s victims suggested it was human.

One showed a swarthy broad-faced bearded man with a flat nose, thick lips and a piercing stare. The other, which could hardly have been more different, portrayed a narrow-faced man with a receding hairline, a scrappy mustache and dark glasses.

The Indian Express quoted a resident of Noida as saying that a creature “as small as a cat” bit her fingers, and two of her husband’s teeth were knocked out by a “metallic hand.”

Two houses away, there was a different story.

“It was a monkey alright, and about four foot tall, but as soon as I grabbed it, it turned itself into a cat with tawny, glowing eyes,” the newspaper quoted a resident as saying.

Monkeys run wild in New Delhi and on the outskirts of the city. Sometimes they pounce on unsuspecting pedestrians or enter houses.

Tuesday May 15 9:13 AM ET

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Fear gripped some suburbs of the Indian capital on Tuesday after dozens of residents reported attacks by an ape-like creature able to leap from roof to roof.

Police had received about 65 reports of a mysterious attacker with a monkey’s face and human body scratching and biting victims in and around Delhi since Saturday, a senior police official told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police said they had no clues about the identity of the alleged attacker.

“Last night (Monday) alone we received 24 calls reporting such attacks,” Manoj Lal, Deputy Commissioner of Police of Delhi’s eastern district, told Reuters.

“Of these, 19 were found to have no basis. The five others had some wounds and we are trying to confirm with doctors how they may have been caused,” he said.

Television network Star News said people in neighboring Ghaziabad town — which reported the first attack two weeks ago — spent the night on the streets armed with sticks waiting for the attacker.

Lal said the entire eastern district police force of about 3,000 personnel had been on patrol since Monday to hunt down the creature.

The Times of India said an industrial worker died on Sunday night in nearby Noida town when he jumped off a first-floor building after being awoken by cries the “monkey man” was attacking.

There are a number of monkeys running wild in New Delhi and on the outskirts of the city which sometimes pounce on unsuspecting pedestrians or enter houses.

Monkey business rules in India’s corridors of power
By Sunil Kataria
Tuesday, January 9, 2001

Thousands of monkeys are creating havoc in the corridors of power in the Indian capital, barging into government offices, stealing food, threatening bureaucrats, and even ripping apart valuable documents.

The increasingly aggressive animals swing effortlessly between the offices of the defense, finance and external affairs ministries, and have even been spotted in the prime minister’s office, government officials say.

“They are moving in very high security areas,” said defense ministry officer I.K. Jha.

According to estimates by officials, there are at least 10,000 monkeys scampering in and around the stately red sandstone buildings just a stone’s throw from the grand presidential palace.

But officials say there is little they can do to deal with the monkey invasion of the government buildings, built by the country’s British rulers before India won independence in 1947.

Killing the animals is not an option because monkeys have a sacred status in India’s main religion, Hinduism.

Authorities used to capture the monkeys and ship them to neighboring states. But that option now is closed because many states say they have enough trouble coping with their own monkey population.

Two years ago, the government had a high-level meeting to seek a permanent solution to the problem. Suggestions ranged from setting up a separate park for captured primates to “monkey contraception.”

But little has been done since then and government employees still walk warily to work armed with sticks and stones to prevent monkey attacks.

“I am sometimes faced with groups of monkeys, big huge looking fellows,” said government employee Surekha Rao. “What I do is make some noise with my shoes so the monkey moves away.”

Animal rights activists say the main problem isn’t the rising number of monkeys but the growing population of humans.

“We have encroached on their homelands, we have taken away their fruits, we have reduced their water sources and we are trappinthem from their home range, from their forests, so they are coming to the urban areas,” said rights activist Iqbal Malik.