Balasore, Oct 18 (UNI) After long five years of captivity in a cage inside police station, a seven-year-old monkey was finally released to a nearby forest.

The monkey, popularly called as Ramu, was kept in a cage inside the Remuna police station for the past five years after the animal was handed over to police by the local villagers.

Ramu was recently in the news after the media reports brought the matter to limelight and the government ordered for an inquiry into the whole incident.

The officials of the Wildlife Division swung into action and freed the monkey from the cage inside the police station. In fact the wildlife officials had prepared a new cage for ''Ramu'' and transported it to nearby Kuldiha reserve forest for release into the wild.

Nilagiri forest Ranger Laxmidhar Behera said a medical examination was conducted on the monkey before it was taken to the Kuldiha forest. The monkey was found in perfect and good health, he said.

The monkey, he said, would be kept under close observation for a week before being released into the wild as he was domesticated for nearly five years inside the police station.

On being asked whether the officials of Remuna police station would be booked under the Wildlife Protection act for keeping the schedule animal in a cage, the forest officials said as per Section 60 of Wildlife Act - 1972, no action could be initiated against government officer keeping the animal with proper care.

The monkey was brought to the police station by the villagers following a group clash in Haripur village after the monkey kept by a minority community member attacked a boy belonging to major community.

Remuna police station in charge Niranjan Dhir when contacted said the police had no option but to keep the monkey in the police station premises to avoid a possible communal conflict in the village.

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