72-Year-Old ‘Stoned to Death by Monkeys’ in India, Claims Brother

A 72-year-old man was ’stoned to death' by monkeys in India that threw bricks at him from a tree, according to his brother.

The incident in northern India was initially recorded by police as an accident, but the man’s family have lodged a formal complaint and are demanding justice brought to bear on the monkeys, according to local reports.

Dharampal Singh was collecting dry wood in Tikri when monkeys hurled bricks at him that they had collected from a nearby building, according to his brother.

The police recorded the incident as an accident, according to local media reports, and said that the bricks were knocked down from a column, not thrown.

The incident happened on Oct. 17, according to the Navbharat Times.

“Monkeys threw more than 20 bricks at Dharampal on Thursday,” said his brother, Krishapal Singh, reported the Times of India. “He was hit on the head, chest and legs. Thrown from quite a height, the bricks were enough to kill him.”

“These rogue monkeys are the real culprits and must pay for it,” said Krishapal Singh.

‘How Can We Register the Case Against Monkeys?’

He said that police had refused to file an official report. The family have lodged a formal complaint, naming the monkeys as the accused.

Chitwan Singh, station officer of Doghat police station, told the Times: ““How can we register the case against monkeys? This will make us a laughingstock. I don’t think it is a logical demand. We were definitely informed of the bizarre accident and we registered it in our case diary after which a post-mortem was also conducted.”

According to some other reports, police indicated Singh was killed when bricks were knocked on top of him by accident by the monkeys.

Singh was found lying at the base of a brick pillar when some monkeys jump on top of it, according to a police investigation, reported Navbhara Times  and Bhaskar. Some of the bricks were dislodged, raining down on him.

The type of monkeys are not named in the reports, but according to the Hindu Times aggressive attacks are often carried out by rhesus macaque monkeys.

Rhesus macaque monkeys squatting on a facade of the Defense Ministry building in the capital New Delhi on Oct. 18, 2004. (Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images)

Authorities hired 40 youngsters to dress as the larger gray langur monkeys to scare away the growing scourge of rhesus monkeys in New Delhi in2014.

Monkeys are protected by law in India and are revered in certain cultural and religious traditions. There are an estimated 50 million.

Earlier this year, a 16-day-old baby was snatched by a monkey from the backyard of a house in the Odisha region in east India. The baby was later found by woman in the local well.

The boy’s father, Rama Krushna Nayak, did not appear to blame the monkey.

“It seems while the monkey was jumping from the terrace my baby somehow slipped from its clutches and fell in the well,” he told the Times of India.

A rogue gray langur monkey terrorized the village of Supa near the east coast of India in the spring, with 19 attacks recorded in just 6 weeks.

In 2007 the deputy mayor of New Dheli died after being attacked by wild monkeys in his home. He fell from a terrace fending of the onslaught.