Prowling 'monkey-man' causes panic in Delhi

By JAMES PALMER

Whether he is man or beast, captured or at large, nobody seems to know. But suburbs of Delhi, the Indian capital, have been thrown into panic over the nightly prowlings of a mysterious "monkey-man".

Dozens of residents have reported attacks by an ape-like creature able to leap from roof to roof. Some say the assaults are by a monkey, others by a masked man.

Police said that since Sunday they had received about 65 reports of the hybrid creature scratching and biting victims.

Delhi has monkeys running wild, which sometimes pounce on pedestrians or enter houses and bite people sleeping.

Police arrested a man suspected of being the monkey-man. He claimed he was just a thief who decided to take advantage of the panic.

"He donned the mask so that everyone would think he is yet another monkey-man at work," The Hindustan Times quoted a police official as saying.

People in Ghaziabad town, which reported the first attack two weeks ago, spent the night on the streets armed with sticks waiting for the attacker, the Star News TV network reported.

Cries of "Kill him, kill him!" were heard into the night.

The Times of India said a man died on Sunday in nearby Noida when he leapt off a first-floor building after waking to cries that the "monkey-man" was attacking.

In other areas, people said the beast had "threatened to kill them" in the Bhojpuri language and accent.

In Kala Bhatta, people reportedly stoned cars after seeing a masked man drive by.

Previously, they fired guns into the air to scare the creature away.

Manoj Lal, Deputy Commissioner of Police in Delhi's eastern district, said all 3,000 police had been patrolling since Monday to hunt down the creature.

- INDEPENDENT