MEERUT: A bunch of

stoned a 72-year-old to death in Tikri village of

in

when he went to collect wood for havan. According to police, Dharampal Singh was collecting pieces of dry wood when the monkeys rained bricks, which they got from a nearby dilapidated building, at him from the treetop.

Hit on the head and chest, the elderly man died in hospital later. His family has lodged a formal complaint and named monkeys as accused in the case. Police, however, were in a fix over the issue and registered the matter in the case diary stating it to be an “accident”. The family is not convinced and they are now writing to higher authorities.

According to Krishnapal Singh, the deceased’s brother, “Monkeys threw more than 20 bricks at Dharampal on Thursday. 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. We have given a written complaint against monkeys but police don’t seem to be convinced enough to convert it into an FIR."

As per villagers, monkeys in the area have made their lives hell and the entire local population is greatly inconvenienced. “The attack on Dharampal could be the worst case, but monkeys have made life difficult for villagers here and there doesn’t seem to be any solution in sight,” Bheema Kashyap, a local resident, said.

Chitwan Singh, station officer of Doghat police station, said, “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.”

Deadly attacks by monkeys have been on rise throughout the country. As per wildlife experts, most of these attacks were launched by rhesus macaque monkeys.