Hathras (UP), Nov 22 (PTI) More than 100 monkeys perished after inhaling a pesticide sprayed in a food godown and were stealthily buried in a pit, police on Friday said.

On Friday, the bodies of monkeys, buried in a pit, were taken out for a postmortem by a team of veterinarians.

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Circle Officer Yogendra Krishna Narayan said police came to know about the deaths on Wednesday.

Police have registered a case against the employees of Food Corporation of India and started an investigation.

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According to police, the chemical in question was aluminium phosphide sprayed on wheat sacks to protect it from insects and rodents in an FCI warehouse on November 7.

A troop of monkeys entered the warehouse through a broken window of the godown on the night of November 7 and ended up inhaling the gas.

When the workers opened the warehouse on November 9, they saw several monkeys dead.

They allegedly chose not to inform their seniors about deaths and buried the bodies in a pit.

The CO said the bodies were exhumed when some Vishv Hindu Parishad leaders came to know about the incident.

As per police count, more than 100 monkeys were exhumed from the pit.

Their bodies were in late stage decay, the officer said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)