Holy monkey hit squad
• Superstitious Folly
The only way Indian villagers could free themselves from a plague of 'holy' monkeys was to pay to have them executed.
Police inquiries revealed that the killers had been paid to get rid of the monkeys by the inhabitants of Chang, a village 20 miles away. The growing monkey population had become a serious problem there but the villagers could not ask the government to control them because, according to Hindu belief, monkeys are holy to the god Hanuman, and no one would dare to interfere with them. So the frustrated villagers resorted to more drastic measures.
Monkeys roam freely across India, in major cities as well as in the countryside. The animals sitting on Delhi's grandest buildings regularly make it into tourist snapshots but the monkeys are, in fact, a menace. They have sharp teeth and often bite people, inflicting nasty wounds, even biting noses off. They can carry rabies; they also break into homes, steal food and run riot.
Menaced by holy monkeys, Indian villagers call in the contract killers