A culprit in a botched robbery that resulted in murder had evaded Indian detectives for nearly a week until an unlikely witness stepped forward: Hercule, the parrot.
, on February 20, Neelam Sharma and her dog were found stabbed to death at her residence. In the days following the murder, Sharma’s husband, Vijay, noticed that the family parrot acted peculiarly whenever their nephew, Ashutosh, visited the home.
“Whenever Ashutosh’s name was mentioned, the parrot would start screeching,” Vijay Sharma, told the Times of India. “This raised my suspicion, and I informed the police.”
Police questioned Ashutosh, who confessed to the crime.
Parrots have a long and noble history as crime solvers. In 1931, a green parrot tipped off police to the murder of its owner with shrieks that the 听sounded like “don’t, Papa, don’t.”