Mumbai woman trains monkey to harass commuters, leave only after being paid

Mumbai officers have handed over the monkey to the forest officials at Sanjay Gandhi National Park

The government railway police arrested a woman for scaring commuters with a monkey and extorting money from them, at Ram Mandir station on Monday.

The monkey is from a forest in Nanded, said officials. (Photo for representation only)

The officers have handed over the monkey to the forest officials at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park on Monday.

According to the GRP, the woman, Renu Jadhav, is a beggar. She would leave her monkey with frightened local train commuters from Palghar to Bandra and then demand money to take him back. “The monkey was from the forest of Nanded and was trained by the woman to harass commuters and not leave without money,” said Santosh Kank, a forest official.

He added that he had received complaints from an NGO, which had warned the woman. However, she still continued to extort money.

The woman was presented before the court on Monday where she and the monkey were remanded in forest officials’ custody of two days. The court had then ordered the forest to release the monkey into the wild on Tuesday.

“We have arrested the woman and will take the monkey to the forest after a check-up by the animal doctors,” said Kank.