Two monkeys owe a big one to Maneka

Member of Parliament Maneka Gandhi rescued two langurs — a species of monkeys —  and nabbed one of the trainers.

The accused along with two others were forc­ing the langurs to act for passersby on a road, police said.

Gandhi, who was elected from Aonla constituency in Uttar Pradesh, caught the accused red-handed on Dalhousie Road near South Block on October 9.

“I was passing by when I saw three men making two langurs fight and taking money from the audience,” Gandhi told police.

She stopped her car and asked the policeman accompanying her to nab them. “One of them was caught while the other two fled,” said Gandhi.

She found that the primates were wounded, and called an ambulance and sent them to Sanjay Gandhi Animal Centre in Raja Garden in west Delhi.

Officials of Parliament Street police station took custody of the trainer, Altab, a resident of Rohini, and two days later a case was filed for illegal possession of langurs under the Wildlife Protection Act and Altab was arrested.

Gandhi, who projects herself as an animal rights activist and environmentalist, was reportedly instrumental in creating the animal welfare ministry. She had banned the use of bears, primates and big cats in public performances, and designed an animal welfare institute.