Amaravati: In a bizarre incident, a monkey picked up Rs 10,000 from a jewellery shop at Piduguralla in Guntur district on May 23. The incident came to light after CCTV images of the incident went viral on social media. The monkey dropped the money when it was chased.
The shop owner suspects the monkey was trained to grab money. The monkey allegedly robbed money again, this time from the counter of a hotel at Piduguralla, in the last week of May.
K. Bhaskar Rao of Piduguralla of Lalitha Jewellers at Janpadu Road, Piduguralla, told this newspaper that when the monkey came to the shop, a worker offered it guava. The monkey took the fruit, entered the shop and sat on the counter for about 30 minutes.
Mr Rao said he tried to drive it away, but it did not budge. He offered it a banana but it refused to accept it. After some time the monkey pulled open the drawer of the cash counter, took a bundle of notes, totalling Rs 10,000, and ran out of the shop, Mr Rao said.
He said that workers ran after the monkey which made for the top floor, left the money there and disappeared. He said that he suspected that the monkey was trained to take away money from the shops.
He said that the monkey appeared at the Anjaneya Vilas hotel after five days, snatched a bundle of notes, again totalling Rs 10,000, and ran on the road. The hotel staff pursued it with sticks, and the monkey dropped the money and fled.
Locals have asked the police to catch the monkey. The Piduguralla police said they had not received any complaint but would inquire into the matter.
