(Image source from: NBC News)

The Pune police were sent on a goose chase after a 47-year-old man recently sent an email to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) claiming to have spotted an alien object outside his house.

The investigation revealed that the man was suffering from a mental ailment, a police officer said Thursday.

The resident of Kothrud area, sent an email to the PMO saying he had seen an "alien object" outside his house. After the PMO forwarded the letter to the Maharashtra government, police got instructions to look into the matter, said an official attached to the Sinhgad Road police station.

Police tracked down the sender of the email a few days ago, the officer said. "The man had had brain hemorrhage some years ago and since then he has lost his mental balance. A couple of months ago he saw the light in the trees outside his bungalow and thought it was coming from some alien object," said the officer.

He felt sure that this "alien object" was sending critical information about Earth to its home planet, and dashed off an email to the PMO seeking probe, the officer said.

"Even his family members were not aware that he had sent such an email," said the officer.

-Sowmya Sangam