In Uttar Pradesh, India, a bizarre incident recently took place where a monkey stole a bag of money and climbed up a tree to scatter the cash, making it rain down like money. This led to a frenzy of people scrambling to pick up the bills.
According to reports from India TV, the event occurred around 1 pm on August 26th in the Auraiya region. The incident unfolded as a man named Rohitash Chandra was at a local administrative office to handle a land transaction.
Chandra had Rs 80,000 (about $907) cash packed in a bag and placed it in the rear compartment of his motorcycle. While he was busy dealing with legal documents with his lawyer Govind Dubey, a monkey opened the rear compartment and made off with the entire bag of money, then climbed up a nearby tree.
Shortly after, the monkey began pulling out the banknotes from the bag and started scattering them in different directions, creating a scene where money was falling like rain. This unexpected downpour of cash caused a commotion, and people at the scene rushed to pick up the scattered bills. The entire incident was captured on camera and circulated on social media.
When the chaos settled, Chandra only managed to recover Rs 52,000 (around $590), while the remaining Rs 28,000 (about $317) was believed to have been picked up by people at the scene, who hurriedly collected the scattered bills.
Local officials confirmed there were multiple witnesses present during the incident, sparking discussions on government office security and animal disturbances.
The Times of India reported that local residents expressed concerns about continuous monkey intrusions in the area. One eyewitness stated, “We can’t even eat here. If you’re not careful, the monkeys will immediately attack or snatch things away.”
According to Hindustan Times, similar instances of monkey disturbances have occurred in other locations as well.
Earlier this year, a monkey crashed a traditional Haldi ceremony (part of an Indian wedding) held in a certain place, stealing food and leaving guests amused and fearful.
In June, when a man and his wife in Uttar Pradesh were leaving a temple, a monkey snatched the woman’s handbag containing jewelry worth a whopping Rs 2 million ($22,655). Worried about the monkeys, she had removed the jewelry before entering the temple, but it was still stolen.
Fortunately, the police later found the handbag and jewelry in the shrubs and returned them to her.
Additionally, last month, an American travel blogger shared a video on Instagram showing a group of monkeys snatching food from him in Tamil Nadu.
In the video, the man’s motorcycle had a bag in the front with chocolate cake and oranges. When he stopped, a group of monkeys surrounded him and stole the food.
He said helplessly, “I got robbed in India, can’t believe these guys took my food. I was planning to eat the chocolate cake and oranges tonight, now I’m hungry.”