The police official was identified in some local media reports as Srikanth Dwivedi

A UP police inspector hard at work received a surprise on Tuesday - a grooming session from a monkey. In a video shared online by a senior police officer, the inspector from a police station in the state's Pilibhit district can be seen sitting at his desk calmly reviewing files while a monkey sits on his shoulders in that well-recognised simian posture interpreted as "looking for lice".

"The monkey came inside the station premises in the afternoon and bit one of the woman officers. After that, he sat on my desk and as I tried to move, attacked me too. He later ensconced on my chair and began flipping through my hair," Srikanth Dwivedi, the Station House Officer (SHO) was quoted in a news report by ANI.

He said the monkey roamed around the station till midnight. "In the morning, he was released in the nearby forest area," he added.

A video of episode was tweeted by Rahul Srivastav, an Additional Superintendent for Uttar Pradesh Police. It has been viewed more than 16,000 times and received more than 1,000 'likes'

"The experience of these police officers in Pilibhit suggests that if you do not want to be disturbed while you are at work... use Reetha, Shikhakai or some other good shampoo," he wrote.

As the video plays out, the cop displays remarkable bravery to keep calm despite the interruption, while others in the station, some of whom can't help but giggle, can be heard commenting on his plight.

Meanwhile, in the window behind the officer, two men can be seen moving about as people contemplate how to get the monkey off the cop's back. One individual can be heard suggesting using bananas to distract the monkey.

Twitter users were left chuckling over the video, with one person suggesting the monkey may be a friend of the inspector and another calling the monkey's actions "free 'seva' (service)".

Monkey sir ka friend lg rha hai ???????? — Shashank Pathak (@Shashankspn95) October 8, 2019

???????????????????? free seva mil rhi inspector ko — sachin pachre (@sachinpanchre) October 8, 2019

Grooming is an important daily ritual for monkeys and primates. Generally, however, they do not include humans in their grooming rituals.

Pilibhit district is also home to a tiger reserve - a 730 square kilometre forest that, according to the state tourism website, is the 45th in the country and is home to 127 species of animals, 326 kinds of birds and more than 2,000 flowering plants.

With input from ANI