A formal complaint in this regard was lodged at the Dera Bassi police station on February 3. In his complaint, Zoo Inspector Sukhdev Singh said that the missing birds, including parrots, cockatiels, budgerigars, Lal Munia and Chakor. In the bird markets of Delhi and Calcutta these rare birds will fetch around Rs 30,000. A Dera Bassi Assistant Sub-Inspector Tarsem Lal, alongwith an 11-member investigating team of zoo officials led by Sukhdev Singh, went to the Ambala Chiri-Mar Mohalla yesterday and rounded up two persons for questioning. So far no arrests have been made.

When contacted, Chhat Bir Zoo director Venod Sharma said that three members of security staff, two chowkidars and the security incharge had been chargesheeted and transferred to Ludhiana. Further action will be taken after they file replies to the chargesheets, he added. The case of the missing birds is the third such incident in the past three years. Earlier, a goat had disappeared in the wee hours on October 19, while the zoo staff was busy celebrating Diwali. Even four months after the incident, Banur police remains clueless as to the fate of the animal.

In October, 1996, a pair of otters disappeared under mysterious circumstances from the zoo.

Zoo officials, when contacted, said that they suspected the involvement of a gang which had been active for the past two years. Only a vigilance inquiry can solve the mystery behind repeated incidents of missing birds and animals from the zoo, they added. They also disclosed that a peacock, had been shifted to a farmhouse in Sirsa which belongs to a senior Punjab politician.