A bizarre event recently occurred in Uttar Pradesh, India, where a monkey snatched a bag of money and then climbed a tree to scatter the cash, leaving banknotes fluttering down like rain and causing a scramble among onlookers to collect them.
According to India TV, the incident happened around 1 PM on August 26 in the Auraiya area. At the time, a man named Rohitash Chandra was visiting a local government office to handle a land transaction. Chandra had placed 80,000 Indian rupees (approximately 907 USD) in cash inside a bag, which he stored in the trunk of his motorcycle.
While Chandra and his lawyer, Govind Dubey, were busy processing legal documents, a monkey opened the trunk, grabbed the entire bag of money, and quickly climbed a nearby tree. Shortly after, the monkey began pulling out banknotes from the bag and tossing them in all directions, causing the money to rain down to the ground.
The falling cash created a commotion, with many people at the scene rushing to pick up the scattered banknotes. This entire scene was captured on video and quickly circulated on social media.
औरैया-तहसील परिसर में बंदर ले उड़ा किसान का बैग पेड़ पर बैठकर बंदर ने कर दी नोटों की बारिश की
— ragini (@RaginiYada54738) August 26, 2025
बाइक की डिग्गी से बंदर ने निकाला था बैग लोगों ने जमकर लूटे नोट वीडियो हुआ वायरल, औरैया की बिधूना तहसील परिसर का मामला पुलिस को सबसे पैसा वसूल कर वापस करा देना चाहिए कृपया संज्ञान मे ले pic.twitter.com/YuaTbIrB2y
When the chaos settled, Chandra managed to recover only 52,000 rupees (about 590 USD). The remaining 28,000 rupees (around 317 USD) were believed to have been taken by people who eagerly gathered the falling notes.
Local officials confirmed that multiple eyewitnesses were present during the incident, which sparked discussions about security at government offices and problems caused by animal disturbances.
The Times of India reported that local residents expressed growing concern over the persistent nuisance caused by monkeys in the area. One eyewitness said, "We can't even eat here. The moment you're careless, monkeys will attack or snatch things immediately."
The Hindustan Times noted that similar monkey-related disturbances have happened in other locations as well. Earlier this year, a monkey gatecrashed a Haldi ceremony—a traditional Indian wedding ritual—and stole some food, amusing and frightening guests.
In June, in Uttar Pradesh, a man and his wife were leaving a temple when a monkey snatched the woman's handbag containing jewelry worth up to 2 million rupees (approximately 22,655 USD). She had removed the jewelry beforehand fearing monkeys might steal it inside the temple, but the handbag was still taken. Fortunately, police later recovered the bag and jewelry from shrubs nearby and returned them to her.
Additionally, last month, an American travel blogger shared a video on Instagram showing a pack of monkeys stealing food from him in Tamil Nadu. The video showed a bag placed in front of his motorcycle containing chocolate cake and oranges. When he stopped, the monkeys surrounded him and took the food. The blogger lamented, "I got robbed in India. I can't believe those guys took my food. I was saving the chocolate cake and oranges for tonight, now I'm hungry."
