A Talking Parrot Helps Catch Owner’s Murderer
In highly embellished accounts of one of the most unlikely Indian murder mysteries in living memory, a talking parrot has helped the police to crack the case of its mistress' murder after it "identified" the alleged killer.
By Sadho Ram — 01 Mar 2014, 01:31 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
A talking parrot in India’s bustling city of Agra reportedly helped police track down the man responsible for murdering the pet’s owner
Neelam, wife of a local Hindi newspaper editor Vijay Sharma, was found murdered at her residence in Balkeshwar colony here on 20 February, police said.
firstpost.com
Valuables, including jewellery, were missing from her house in the city’s Balkeshwar colony, 100 miles south of Delhi.
thetimes.co.uk
Local police were struggling a week after the murder of Neelam Sharma, 45, until they received a tip from the most unlikely of sources: Hercules, the dead woman’s parrot.
time.com
Sharma's husband, Vijay Sharma, told police that after the murder, he noticed whenever his nephew, Ashutosh, came over, the parreot would go berserk
"It sulked every time Ashutosh passed its cage," Sharma's brother Ajay said. Growing suspicious, the victim's family started taking names of possible suspects in front of the parrot.
telegraph.co.uk
Mr Sharma said: 'The parrot that was unusually quiet suddenly started shrieking and flapping around the cage. 'It was clearly distressed about something and only calmed down when Ashutosh left.
dailymail.co.uk'Then when I spoke to other people, every time I mentioned Ashutosh's name the parrot would start screeching. 'This made me really suspicious and I decided to call the police.'
theaustralian.com.au
When Ashutosh Goswami’s name was read out, the parrot squawked "Usne maara, usne maara" (he has killed, he has killed)
Ashutosh was arrested by police in Balkeshwar Colony in Agra for the murder of his aunt Neelam and confessed to her killing, the Press Trust of India reported.
telegraph.co.uk
According to the well-respected agency, the role of the parrot Heera was hailed by the local Senior Superintendent of Police Shalabh Mathur:”We got a lot of help from the parrot to zero in on the murderer,” he said.
deccanchronicle.com
Although, the investigating officer Superintendent Satyarth Anirudh said he was skeptical of the claims and said normal police work had identified the killer
“It was a blind murder, no clues, but were were sure someone close to the family was incvolved. We questioned many people and found who had visited the house in the absence of the victim’s husband.
telegraph.co.uk"We interrogated all the suspects and the nephew of the victim confessed to the crime. We don’t know where the parrot came into it,” he said.
