Hassan Monkey massacre: Police arrest seven including woman

Hassan: Days after carcasses of nearly 38 monkeys were found by the roadside in Hassan’s Belur taluk here, the forest department and police have arrested seven monkey catchers, who had been hired by the villagers to to get rid of monkeys.

The arrested identified as Ramu, Yashoda, Manja, Manje Gowda, Iyyangari, Srikanth and Ramanuja Iyengar have been sent to judicial custody.

On July 29 morning, locals spotted gunny bags disposed by the roadside. Upon opening the bags they found that it was stuffed with monkeys. While initial reports suggested that 30 monkeys were killed due to suffocation it was later confirmed that 38 monkeys were killed in the incident.

The Karnataka High Court had initiated Public Interest Litigation (PIL) proceedings, after taking suo motu cognizance of media reports on death of the monkeys.

Upon investigation, the police found that villagers of Udane were tired of the monkey menace and thus approached the accused persons to help them to get rid of monkeys.

The accused were paid Rs 80,000 for the task. For a week, the accused fed biscuits, bread and other food items to the monkeys whereafter they set a trap. The monkeys were then stuffed into gunny bags and thrown by the roadside in a distant village.