Delhi: Indian police cleared a suspected Chinese spy pigeon after holding it for eight months and released it into the wild on Tuesday, the Press Trust of India reported.
The pigeon's ordeal began in May when she was captured near a port in Mumbai with two rings tied to her legs and carrying words that sounded like Chinese. The police suspected him of espionage and detained him and later sent him to Bai Sakarbai Dinshu Beti Animal Hospital in Mumbai.
He was detained on suspicion of espionage: A pigeon captured eight months ago was released at a veterinary hospital in Mumbai.credit: AP
Eventually, it turned out that the pigeon was an open-water racing bird from Taiwan that had escaped and made its way to India.
With police permission, the bird was taken to the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, whose doctors released it on Tuesday.
Mumbai Police could not be reached for comment.
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This is not the first time that a bird has been subjected to suspicion by the police in India.
In 2020, police in Indian-controlled Kashmir released a pigeon owned by a Pakistani hunter after an investigation found that the bird, which flew across the heavily armed border between the nuclear-armed countries, was not a spy.
In 2016, another pigeon was detained after it was found with a letter threatening Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
