Monkey-man of Delhi
The Monkey-man of Delhi, also known as the Face Scratcher or the Black Monkey, is an unknown anomaly which was reported to be roaming Delhi in mid-2001. The entire incident has been described as an example of mass hysteria in India.
History
In May 2001, reports circulated in New Delhi, India concerning a monkey-like creature that attacked people at night. Eyewitness accounts were often inconsistent, but usually described the creature as about four feet tall, covered in thick black hair, with a metal helmet, metal claws, glowing red eyes and three buttons on its chest. Some reports also claim that it wore roller-skates. Others, however, described the Monkey-man as having a more vulpine snout, and being up to eight feet tall, and muscular; it would leap from building to building. In mid 2002, a group of four teenagers from the affluent Nizamuddin East colony tried replicating the act by dressing up in monkey costumes and stole money from local vegetable vendors. All four were apprehended by the police and released with a warning. The perpetrators were later named by the media as Arth Agarwal, Vishal Agarwal, Karan Grover and an underage unnamed accomplice.Over 350 sightings of the Monkey-man were reported, as well as around 60 resulting in injuries. Police released artist's sketches of eyewitness accounts in an attempt to catch the creature. Two people reportedly died when they fell from the tops of buildings or down stairwells in a panic caused when they thought they were under attack.
In popular culture
Film
In the Tamil film Dhill, a comic character named Ezhumalai boards an all-women’s bus and flirts with a passenger, who turns out to be a plainclothes cop. As Ezhumalai is tackled by the cop, one of his associates, 'Megaserial' Mahadevan, jokingly comments from outside: "He is that Delhi Monkey Man! Take him to the station!".The appearance of Monkey-man in Old Delhi is the centre-point of the Hindi film Delhi-6 directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. In the film, the creature is used as an allegory to represent the evil that resides inside every man alongside God.