Delhi Deputy Mayor SS Bajwa, 52, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was reading a newspaper on his terrace on Friday when he was attacked by the monkeys, party official Harsh Vardhan said. Bajwa fell from the terrace while trying to escape his attackers.

The deputy mayor was admitted to the intensive care unit of a Delhi hospital in critical condition and died on Sunday, the official said.

The man-monkey conflict has been a long-standing problem in the Indian capital, with the civic authorities failing to control the simians. The monkey population has grown as they move into the city to try and survive from foraging, because development of suburbs is destroying their natural habitat.

Monkeys can be seen moving freely in some residential localities and are a common sight near the Defence Ministry building in central Delhi.

The simians are treated as descendents of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman and are often fed by devotees at Hindu temples. Bajwa’s house was located near a temple, the Times of India newspaper reported.

Delhi’s high court has delivered several strictures to the civic authorities asking them to curb the “monkey menace,” but catching and relocating the animals have proved difficult.

There are very few forests left around Delhi’s expanding urban perimeter and neighbouring states have been reluctant to accept the animals.

The Delhi government recently hired two monkey catchers from the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Animal rights’ activists allege the monkeys that are caught are housed in poor conditions in large cages on the outskirts of the city.