NEW DELHI: A baby died after a monkey snatched it from its mother’s arms, Indian police investigating the incident in the city of Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, said on Thursday.

The 12-day-old boy was being fed by his mother when a rhesus macaque monkey broke into the room late Monday, said local deputy police chief Prashant Verma.

The monkey grabbed the infant and jumped away along several rooftops in a crammed district of the global tourist hotspot, he said.

Locals chased the monkey down after the mother raised the alarm, forcing the animal to abandon the baby’s body on top of a building.

Verma said the infant was declared dead on arrival at hospital but the family refused to allow a postmortem and the cause of death — whether from a fall, bite or something else — could not be ascertained.

India has an estimated monkey population of 50 million and roughly 10,000 are believed to roam Agra, stealing goods, bothering residents and breaking into properties.

Incidents of attacks by macaques — a species with reddish-pink faces common across India — are frequent in the city.

Many monkeys in India, who are fed by Hindus who revere the monkey god Hanuman, are turning aggressive due to their shrinking natural habitat.

Nationwide figures are not available but nearly 1,900 people were bitten by monkeys in the capital New Delhi in 2016, government figures show.

A former Delhi mayor was killed after falling from the balcony of his house when he was attacked by monkeys in 2007.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2018