The #1 source for news about monkeys and apes

[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

Deutsche Presse-Agentur

May 18, 2001

Teenager mistaken to be elusive monkey man beaten up in New Delhi


A youth, mistaken to be the assailant "monkey man", was beaten up in New
Delhi, while mass hysteria continued to grip the streets of the Indian
capital, reports said.

A 19-year-old man was injured and his car smashed early Friday in the
eastern part of the city, the reports said. A group of vigilante residents,
armed with sticks and torches, mistook the teenager to be the monkey man
and attacked him.

Meanwhile, police have arrested two people on charges of spreading rumours
and terror. According to the United News of India (UNI), one of the people
arrested was a doctor who was blackening surgical gloves and throwing them
around to scare people.

The police have also been inundated with fake calls from different parts of
the city about the monkey man. UNI said that on Thursday night, police
control rooms received about 30 fake calls in connection with the monkey
man.

A reward of 50,000 rupees (just over 1,000 U.S. dollars) has been announced
for anyone who provides information regarding the identity of the monkey
man, who has been terrorising people for a week.

Since Sunday, residents of the city have reported attacks by a "creature
with a monkey-like face". Initial complaints by people who said they had
been scratched by a monkey triggered widespread rumours.

Some people believe the assailant is controlled by a master computer,
others that he is "half man, half monkey" and then there are some who think
he is invisible.