MONKEY HEIST! Primate snatches diamond jewellery worth Rs 20 lakh, police recover loot after 8-hour chase. Here's what we know

In a strange incident at Vrindavan's Banke Bihari temple, a monkey staged a 'heist' by stealing a bag containing diamond jewellery worth more than Rs 20 lakh and took the cops and locals on an eight-hour wild goose chase before the items were recovered from a bush.

Abhishek Agarwal, who is from Aligarh, was walking back from the temple with his family on Thursday when the monkey leapt out of the blue and snatched his wife's handbag.

In the handbag: A diamond-encrusted necklace, two diamond rings, three silver anklets, and two diamond tops — worth a pretty penny altogether.

Also Read: Assam to invoke 1950 law, fast-track deportation of illegal immigrants: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Locals attempted in vain to grab the bag. "It just ran up a tree and vanished," said a shopkeeper close to the temple. The family then approached the police for assistance.

What followed was a rare investigation — police combing through hours of CCTV footage to trace the path of the monkey. "After close to eight hours, the purse was recovered from a bush, left behind, its contents untouched," DSP Mathura Sadar Sandeep Kumar Singh was quoted saying.

This isn't the first time Vrindavan has gotten a taste of monkey mayhem. In 2015, a monkey stole a Mumbai woman's purse and showered devotees below with Rs 1.5 lakh in cash — and got curses and blessings in equal measure.

A few years back, a viral video from Mathura showed a monkey snatching the spectacles of a district magistrate (DM) during his visit to the Banke Bihari temple. As the DM walked through the temple premises, the monkey leapt and got a hold of his glasses, leading to a chaotic scene. Police officers were seen struggling to retrieve the spectacles from the monkey.