Bizarre heist! Thieves steal 400 exotic pigeons worth Rs 10 lakh for Mughal-era racing sport in Uttar Pradesh

An age-old tradition of 'kabootarbazi' has flourished since the Mughal era in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut where Mohd Qayyum, a 65-year-old kabootarbaz, has spent years nurturing and training hundreds of exotic pigeons. But on Monday morning, his world turned upside down.

As he stepped onto his terrace for his daily ritual of feeding and training his beloved birds, silence greeted him. The once-vibrant coops, brimming with life, stood empty.

"I found 400 pigeons valued at around Rs 10 lakh missing, and I was totally shattered. Then I realized they could have been taken away by thieves on Sunday night. Some of the stolen pigeons belong to rare foreign breeds and have participated in several competitions," Qayyum said. Without wasting time, he alerted the police, who have since launched an investigation.

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Meerut SP City, Ayush Vikram Singh, confirmed that a formal complaint has been registered at Lisadi Gate police station. "CCTV footage of the surrounding areas is being scanned to identify the culprits. Prima facie, they used a ladder to climb up the terrace. They had come only for Qayyum's pigeons. Except for the birds, they didn't steal anything else from his house," Singh stated.

The scale of the heist has left both authorities and locals baffled. The birds were well-known in the locality, drawing bird enthusiasts who admired Qayyum’s dedication to the sport.

"Bird-lovers often came to see them. It is shocking how the thieves managed to disappear with hundreds of pigeons from the terrace without anyone having a whiff of it," Qayyum said.

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(Cover image: Getty images used only for representational purposes)