Monkey Turns Thief, Snatches Bag With Rs 20 Lakh Jewellery Near Banke Bihari Temple
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The surreal theft highlights an all-too-familiar problem in temple towns—mischievous monkeys turning into petty criminals amid crowds of devotees.
Faith and chaos collided in a bizarre episode outside the revered Thakur Banke Bihari Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Vrindavan after a monkey snatched a devotee's purse containing jewellery worth over Rs 20 lakh. The police, with the help of CCTV footage, recovered the bag later.
The surreal theft highlights an all-too-familiar problem in temple towns—mischievous monkeys turning into petty criminals amid crowds of devotees.
As per the media reports, Abhishek Agarwal, a resident of Aligarh, had come to Vrindavan with his family and was exiting the temple when a monkey snatched the purse from his wife and vanished through the maze of ancient constructions and narrow lanes.
The woman had taken off the jewellery she was wearing and kept them in the bag for safekeeping while visiting the temple.
The locals tried to rescue the purse from the monkey but failed in their attempt, following which police were informed.
How The Police Recovered The Bag?
After being informed, police personnel reached the spot and Banke Bihari outpost in-charge Prashant Kapil launched a search operation.
With help from CCTV footage and fieldwork, the police traced the bag to a bush where it was stashed and returned it to its owner. Fortunately, all the jewellery was found intact.
Sandeep Kumar, Circle Officer, Sadar, confirmed the incident and said that swift action by police led to the recovery of the snatched purse and the valuables were recovered.
'A devotee named Abhishek Agarwal came to Vrindavan with his family from Aligarh. His wife's purse contained jewellery amounting to nearly Rs 20 lakh. While returning from the Thakur Banke Bihari Temple, a monkey snatched away the bag from him," he said.
'It was by the grace of Lord Banke Bihari that I got my valuables back and I thank Vrindavan police for the help," Agarwal said.
There have been several stories of mischievous monkeys in Vrindavan. In March this year, a report emerged claiming that a monkey there swapped a Samsung S25 Ultra for a mango drink.
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