Hampinagar wakes up to monkey terror

A monkey spread terror in Hampinagar, attacking a girl and a woman till forest cell volunteers of the BBMP ‘arrested’ the simian. The monkey — sporting a collar belt — was believed to be an abandoned one.

The attack came close on the heels of stray dogs killing a two-and-a-half-year-old boy and injuring a four-year-old girl in separate incidents.

The girl who was injured in the simian attack was a housemaid. The girl, Sruthi, 16, was removing clothes from a clothesline when she was attacked from behind.Neighbours rushed to Sruthi’s aid hearing her screams, and rescued the girl from the beastly attack. She was later taken to a hospital.

A few minutes later, the arboreal ancestor bit a daily wager, Chottamma, 35, who suffered minor injuries.The forest cell volunteers soon arrived at the scene and caught the monkey.

BBMP corporator Chandrashekar, who visited the area, offered free medical treatment to the monkey’s victims. Sanjana, a resident in the locality, said the monkey went berserk after a few schoolgirls had teased it.

“I found the monkey sitting in front of my house around 6.30am. I gave it bananas and tomatoes, since it looked pregnant. When I checked a few hours later, it was still sitting there. It had a collar belt, and hence I informed the BBMP,” she said, adding, it was then the schoolgirls irritated the creature.

BBMP wildlife cell chief Sharath Babu said that a woman had abandoned the monkey near the Gali Anjaneya temple. “Keeping a wild animal captive is violation of the rules. It could lead to imprisonment,” Babu said.