Pet parrot helps Indian police solve murder case

    
A pet parrot has helped police to nab its owner’s killer in the northern Indian city of Agra, news reports said on Thursday.

Reports said that the police were struggling to solve the murder mystery until a key clue was provided by the dead woman’s pet parrot, Hercule, The Times of India reported.

Neelam Sharma, 45, was found murdered in her home on Feb. 20. Her husband Vijay, editor of a Hindi daily, noticed the parrot screeching every time his nephew, Ashutosh, visited their house after the murder.

“During discussions too, whenever Ashutosh’s name was mentioned the parrot would start screeching.

“This raised my suspicion and I informed the police,’’ Sharma told the newspaper.

Agra police official, Shalabh Mathur, said that Ashutosh confessed to the crime on interrogation.

He said he had entered the house with an accomplice to steal cash and valuables; but afraid that his aunt might recognise him, he stabbed her and a pet dog when it started barking.

The report also said the bird, a namesake of Hercule Poirot, the detective in Agatha Christie’s novels, had lived up to its name.