The real macaw: Metro’s mock-up. No parrots were harmed in producing this picture (Picture: Sophie Harwin)

It looked like the perfect murder: a woman found dead in her home, no clues and no witnesses. Well, no human witnesses, at least.

But the killer of 45-year-old Neelam Sharma will end up doing some bird after all as the case was cracked by the victim’s pet parrot, nicknamed Hercule.

The mystery started when journalist Vijay Sharma came home to find his wife and pet dog dead.

The only survivor was Hercule, who had been stunned into silence by what he saw at the home in Agra, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.


Mr Sharma thought he would never have justice… until a visit from his nephew Ashutosh, who seemed to ruffle a few feathers.



‘The parrot that was unusually quiet suddenly started shrieking and flapping around the cage,’ said Mr Sharma, editor of a Hindi daily newspaper.

‘It was clearly distressed about something and only calmed down when Ashutosh left. 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.’

The police, acting on Hercule’s tip-off, checked on Ashutosh’s phone records before arresting him.

And before long, he was singing like a canary.

‘He said that he had gone with a friend to his uncle’s house with the intention of stealing and was surprised by his aunt, who they had killed because they were worried she would have identified them to police,’ said Agra police spokesman Shalabh Mathur.

‘They had then robbed the place before fleeing.

‘He admitted he had also killed the dog, thinking it could be used in an identity parade against him, but had not thought about killing the parrot which had been silent in its cage.’