Hyderabad, Jun 29 (IANS): The forest department has booked three persons in Telangana's Khammam district for their gruesome act of killing a monkey by hanging it after it had strayed into their field to quench its thirst.

The incident took place in Ammapalem village under Vemsoor ‘mandal' on June 26 but came to light on Sunday.

The video of the cruel act went viral on social media, shocking the netizens who called for stringent punishment for the perpetrators.

Sadu Venkateshwar Rao, caretaker of a teak plantation, and two others attacked a few monkeys that were quenching their thirst from a water tank. One of them fell into the tank, they caught hold of it, beat it with sticks and tied it with a rope around its neck.

The accused then hanged the animal from a tree and not stopping at that, they let two lose two pet dogs on the hapless monkey struggling for its life. After a few minutes, the monkey died and they left its dead body hanging to scare other monkeys away from the field. The next day they threw the body away from the field and tried to burn it.

Forest officials rushed to the village after the video went viral on social media. "We recovered the partially burnt body of the monkey and questioned the accused, who confessed to the crime. We have booked them under Section 9 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972," said A Venkateshwarulu, forest range officer, Khammam.

The officials said the accused were not taken into custody due to the Covid-19 situation, but were summoned to the forest office for further inquiry. A fine of Rs 25,000 has been slapped on the accused.