Rhesus Macaque monkeys
Macaque monkey handed out stolen cash in Indian holiday resort of Shimla Geoff Gallice, Wikimedia Commons

Stunned holidaymakers in India were showered with money by a monkey who stole a wad of cash from a house, last weekend.

Banknotes were falling from the sky in a popular tourist spot in the Shimla forest, in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

It happened when a macaque monkey broke into a house in search of food, but instead grabbed a paw full of rupees.

The primate then fled the scene and took up position on a tin roof, where it began throwing away the notes one by one.

Delighted passers-by were chasing the notes around, which totalled around 10,000 rupees, for up an hour, reported the BBC.

Eye-witness Amit Kanwar said: "Surprised by the attention it was attracting, the cash-loaded monkey then decided to move into the thick pine trees. But as it continued to shower notes, the money collectors naturally followed it."

No surprise then that macaque monkeys have now been listed as a menace in Himachal Pradesh province, despite being sacred in the religion of Hinduism.

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