NEW DELHI: This is one “kabootarbaazi” that has the Gujarat police Coast Guard , forest department, forensic experts and now even the Union home ministry, scratching their heads. A pigeon lost at sea was spotted sipping water from a bowl at the under-construction Essar jetty at Salaya shore in Devbumi Dwarka , Gujarat, in the afternoon of March 20. The bird would have gone unnoticed but for its refusal to take flight when the Essar security guard tried to shoo him away. As the bewildered guard got hold of the daring bird, he spotted a chip tied to one of its claws and a ring with the number ‘28733’ on the other claw. What is more, the bird had writings in Urdu/Arabic across its wings.All hell broke loose thereafter. According to an intelligence report sent to the Centre by SP of Devbhumi Dwarka on March 24, the guard rushed with the ‘intruder’ bird and reported the matter to his superior. The ‘winged suspect’ was ‘detained’ for a day but his owner was nowhere to be found. Fearing that arrival of the “tagged” pigeon could pose a security threat, the Essar security personnel decided to alert Coast Guard officials at Vadinar and hand them the bird “for further investigation”.The Coast Guard, which leaves nothing to chance after a sea-borne infiltration in 2008 culminated in India’s worst terror attack, spent a day wondering what to do with the “tagged and marked” intruder that its officers couldn’t even interrogate. On March 23, the pigeon was remanded to police custody after the Coast Guard officials contacted the Vadinar Marine police station and asked it to join the multi-agency probe into its antecedents. The officer in charge of the Vadinar marine police station made a station diary entry No 12/2015 at 1215 hours on March 23 and opted for a “strip search” of the suspect. The forensic officer was called in and made to take out the ring and chip from the pigeon’s feet. These items were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Gandhinagar for a closer examination.The chip was found to have the writings ‘Benjing Dual’ inscribed on it. This was googled by the agencies who found that ‘Benzing Dual’ is a sensor chip used for racing pigeons. Further, the Urdu/Arabic writings in blue on the pigeon’s wings was interpreted as “Rasul-ul-Allah’ (messenger of Allah).The Devbhumi Dwarka SP also informed the home ministry that the opinion of the forest officials was sought about the possible intentions of the pigeon. Their feedback was that such pigeons are mostly found in northern India and used for racing in foreign countries. The forest officials opined that the pigeon in question may have slipped out of captivity while on a ship in the deep sea and flown to the shores in search of drinking water.Incidentally, the case does not rest there. As Gujarat has duly informed the Union home ministry, the findings so far are “primary information we have and further investigation is going on”.Unfortunately, the pigeon could not be contacted for its version!