NEW DELHI: A pigeon that spent eight months in Indian police custody has been released after it was finally cleared of being a suspected Chinese spy.

The bird was caught at a port in the financial capital Mumbai with `messages written in a Chinese-like script` on it s wings, the Times of India newspaper reported.

`Initially, the police had registered a case of spying against the bird, but after completing their inquiry, they dropped the charge,` the report added.

The unnamed bird was held under lock and key at a city hospital while police carried out an investigation.

That probe took an`astonishing eight months`, the India office of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said in a Thursday statement.

PETA India said police had granted `formal permission for the hospital to release the pigeon` on Wednesday.

Local media reports said the bird fluttered away in good health.

The pigeon is the latest of several detained by Indian authorities on suspicion of espionage.

Border security officers took a pigeon into custody in 2016 after it was found carrying a threatening message to Prime Minister Narendra Modi close to India`s border with Pakistan.-AFP