Devotees to the temple at the holy city in Uttar Pradesh found crisp currency notes flying in the air after one of the resident monkeys snatched the purse of a Mumbai-based woman and threw out all the cash, local traders said on Sunday.
Rs 1.5 lakh in cash just turned into money, err…monkey business at Vrindaban's fabled Bankey Bihari Temple.
The incident happened on Saturday when the woman, identified as one Hemwati Sonkar, had gone to the temple to offer prayers along with her family-members.
The temple is home to hundreds of monkeys who often terrorise devotees, snatching foodstuff and other items, local traders said.
Sonkar was quoted as saying that the monkey swooped down her and snatched her purse, leaving her no time to react.
While local residents advised her to offer food to the monkey, it did not respond to the goodies and instead tore open the purse and started throwing the notes from a tree where it had perched itself.
Local residents said that a large number of devotees took the cash and disappeared in the melee.
According to Sonkar, she could retrieve only a small amount though she was carrying Rs 1.5 lakh in cash. However, she did not lodge a police complaint.
The lanes in and around the Bankey Bihari Temple, devoted to Lord Krishna, is infested with a large number of monkeys which, according to local residents, have become a menace.
Residents said that they are forced to keep their doors and windows shut to avoid the monkeys from entering their homes in search of food.
"Monkeys are expert in snatching eye-wear, mobile phones and purses of visitors, especially when they see food items or prasad with the people. They are so aggressive that when they don't find food they tend to break the valuable items," a local trader.
The administration had earlier launched a sterilization drive in collaboration with NGOs, but failed to contain the monkey population.