Vasai vegetable vendor kept 2-month-old monkey to draw customers and refused to hand it over to the officials
A 40-year-old vegetable vendor's shop in Vasai became the stage for edge-of-the-seat theatrics that spanned four hours on Thursday, after she flashed a long knife to threaten forest officials and animal activists who wanted to rescue a two-months-old monkey she has kept to draw clientele.
The activists and officials were acting on complaints made last week on Facebook regarding cruelty to the animal. But daunted, the officials fled the shop, leaving activists red-faced, even though the monkey was allegedly in her possession, which is illegal as per the Wildlife Protection Act.
The woman, identified as Soni Pawar, vends groceries in Velvina farms in Vasai (East) at a posh locality. dna had reported on January 5 how the monkey had been rescued, following the Facebook protest, but was later taken back forcefully by the woman.
"The monkey is being bitten by rats and has injuries, as the woman had kept it in the shop to attract customers. When a post about this cropped up on an animal activists' Facebook page, we decided to take cognizance and informed the forest and police officials, said Chandra Singh, an animal activist.
"As soon as six forest officials along with a female officer entered Pawar's shop, she flashed the knife and threatened to kill anyone who dared enter. She tried another tactic by apparently trying to end her life. The forest officials fled, fearing allegations against them and the monkey is still in her possession," said Pooja Bhandari, another activist.
K A Kadave, forest officer from Mandvi range, said, "We have started the investigations. Pawar claims she has released the monkey in the jungle and we have asked her to provide documents of the same." The process of setting an animal free in the forest requires releasing documents from forest officials.
The woman allegedly threatened to cry rape to get rid of the officials. "She has threatened to implicate us in false cases and had also shown the knife," said Kadave.
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