Vengeance is mine; I will repay! That is what the primate decided and followed, giving a poor autorickshaw, Jagadish BB, a torrid time of his life.

This unusual tale started when in Kottigehara village in Karnataka’s Chikkamagalur district, a monkey created havoc in the neighbourhood. The male monkey — Bonnet Macaque species and five years old — went around snatching packets of foods, snacks and fruits from the people. Initially, people ignored the primate and became cautious but with the reopening of schools, children of Morarji Desai School got scared of the creature and a complaint was filed with the forest department who decided to trap the monkey.

The department staff asked the help of people in the area, including auto drivers and among them was Jagadish to chase it in a particular direction and corner it. The idea was to divert the animal’s attention by teasing it. This is when the creature lost it and chose Jagadish to vent its anger. It suddenly hopped towards him and attacked him. It bit his hand quite hard and scraped him off.

Panic stricken Jagadish ran away but the monkey continued to chase him wherever he went. When the auto driver took refuge in his autorickshaw, the animal did not spare him and attacked the auto and tore down the sheets covering it.

After a span of nearly three hours, the forest department staff and a group of more than 30 people trapped the monkey and the department whisked the creature away to Balur forest which is 22 kilometres away and released it in the wild.

Recalling the incident Jagadish said: “I was scared as hell. The mad monkey was following me everywhere. It bit me so hard that my doctor said my wounds will take at least a month to heal. I can’t drive my auto-rickshaw which is my bread and butter. Also, I didn’t go home that day fearing the monkey would follow me home. I have small kids at home. What if it attacks them? I am still very afraid.”

Now for the twist in the tale as in less than a week, the normal routine of Kottigehara residents was disrupted as the monkey was back! The creature had travelled in a truck passing on the road near the Balur forest to reach Kottigehara.

This news got Jagadish completely nervous and alarmed. Talking to the media he said: “I felt a chill go down my spine when I heard that the monkey is back in the village. I called the forest department myself and asked them to rush immediately. I haven’t gone out of my hiding. I know it is the same monkey because we all saw a mark on his ear last time and my friend said the villagers noticed it.”

Fortunately for the auto driver, the forest department team captured the primate again on September 22 for the second time and now released him in a forest area which is further off. Jagadish hopes that it doesn’t return but playing cautious he has decided to stay at home for a few more days.

Commenting on this incident, Mohan Kumar BG, Range Forest Officer, Mudigere whose team had trapped the monkey said: “We really don’t know why the monkey targeted one man. We don’t know if he had caused any harm to the animal previously or was it just an immediate reaction. But, this is the first time we have seen a monkey behaving like this though monkeys attacking humans is not unheard of.”