http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=2012020420120204020656769994353bb
Mumbai Mirror [India]
4 February 2012
Bhandup police left embarrassed as CP retracts promises
Yogesh Sadhwani and Nazia Sayed
Bhandup cops and Additional Commissioner of Police of the Eastern Region Quaiser Khalid were left red-faced when Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik pulled them up promising locals additional security in view of various rumours floating in the area.
For the past 10 days there have been rumours in Bhandup (W) that members of the Chaddi Baniyan gang were trying to break into houses and kill occupants before running away with valuables. Besides this, stories of monkey men, who can climb trees and jump over rooftops, have also left the residents unnerved. [...]
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bhandup-cops-rapped-for-encouraging-monkey-men-rumours/908718/
Indian Express
7 February 2012
Bhandup cops rapped for ‘encouraging’ monkey men rumours
Express news service : Mumbai
The Bhandup cops were hauled up by the police top brass last week for falling prey to rumours that ‘monkey men’, who could climb tall trees with ease and jump over rooftops, were trying to break into homes and kill residents before committing robberies.
Believing such rumours, local residents armed with lathis started patrolling the area. Some of them, mistaking three men roaming in the area for robbers, also beat them up. One of those assaulted was mentally unstable.
What earned the Bhandup police a mouthful from the police headquarters was that they were encouraging such rumours through their actions. Policemen were visiting shoe shops in the area in an attempt to identify whether ‘shoes with special springs’ were being manufactured there, sources revealed. What also went against them was their decision to call in a snorkel ladder from the fire department to look for robbers, who they believed were hiding in tree-tops. [...]
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2012/feb/240212-Vampires-and-cannibals-prey-on-fear-in-the-Mumbai.htm
Mid-Day [India]
24 February 2012
Vampires and cannibals prey on fear in the MumbaiBy Varun Singh
Over the past week, the fertile imagination of Mumbai's collective consciousness has been in the feverish grip of some dreaded creatures. Vampires, cannibals and monkey men all appear to have chosen the city as the site for their spring rendezvous. While Mumbai cowers under the covers, cops are having a hard time laying their fears to rest. [...]
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2012/feb/240212-mumbai-police-ask-people-to-stop-believing-in-rumours-about-mystical-characters-lurking.htm
Mid-Day [India]
24 February 2012
Mumbai, don't believe in rumoursBy Varun Singh
The Mumbai police has requested citizens of the city to stop believing in rumours that mystical characters like vampires, man-eating cannibals and a 'monkey man' are lurking the streets at night. [...]
Place: Mumbai. Agency: DNA
It’s not terrorism or some serious crime that is keeping the police on their toes, but a rumour mill that is rife in various parts of the city at about the same time. While the police are daily introduced to a new rumour, they are trying their level best to dissuade people from believing them.
It all started with the slum colonies of the eastern suburbs, including Chembur, Govandi, Tilak Nagar, Nehru Nagar and Chunabhati areas, which were abuzz with a gang of tribals swooping down on the areas to abduct children. Soon, the rumours moved westward, with the MIDC area reporting cases where residents keeping night vigils to keep out a suspected gang, members of which can reduce their height at will to target women. [...]
“While women in the area have stopped coming out of their house at night, everyday somebody approaches us with a new story, like the latest being about gang members with blackened faces wearing special shoes that enables them to reduce their height,” said senior inspector Suresh Hujband of the MIDC police. [...]
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/now-monkey-men-rumours-claim-two-lives-in-kandivali/918090/
The Indian Express
29 February 2012
Now, monkey men rumours claim two lives in Kandivali
Megha Sood : Mumbai
Though the Mumbai Police have dismissed rumours of ‘monkey men’ terrorising localities in the eastern and western suburbs, two men from Kandivali lost their lives on Monday night in the melee and stampede-like situation that followed an alleged sighting in the area.
Additional Commissioner of Police (North) Ramrao Pawar confirmed that such rumours were doing the rounds and they had asked people to stop believing them. While rumours that monkey men — who can climb tall trees with ease and jump over rooftops were trying to break into homes and kill residents before committing robberies — began from the Mulund-Bhandup area, they have now gradually spread to other areas, the police said. [...]
http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_of-terrace-hopping-creatures-and-child-eating-ogres_1656422
Daily News & Analysis [India]
29 February 2012
Of terrace-hopping creatures & child-eating ogresManoj R Nair
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/West-too-rocked-by-rumours/articleshow/12078642.cms
Times of India
29 February 2012
West too rocked by rumours
TNN
MUMBAI: Rumours have travelled west in Mumbai. The buzz about men robbing homes and abducting children in the eastern suburbs has now reached the western suburbs creating panic among residents. The western suburbs are now agog with talk of the "monkey man" abducting children since the last one week. [...]
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/monkey-man-rumour-cops-arrest-72-in-crackdown/919324/
Indian Express
3 March 2012
‘Monkey man’ rumour: Cops arrest 72 in crackdown
Megha Sood : Mumbai
The Mumbai Police have finally cracked the whip on rumours about ‘monkey men’ and the ‘chaddi baniyan gang’ floated in city’s suburbs, by arresting 72 people for allegedly spreading the rumours. [...]