Three Pakistani flags have been found in a forest bordering an Uttarakhand village, triggering investigations by the Intelligence Bureau and state police and spawning multiple theories, from “the foreign hand” to domestic mischief.

Each flag was found tied to a set of 30-odd hot-air balloons, suggesting they had flown in from somewhere else.

They were discovered on Saturday, lying on the ground a few yards from one another in the forests of Tulyara village in Uttarkashi district.

One of the flags was tied also to a banner that said “Lahore Bar Association”, a local administrative officer said. He suggested the balloons had come from Lahore, about 400km west of Uttarkashi, and were intended to “vitiate the communal atmosphere”.

He didn’t explain how all three sets of flags and balloons had landed at the same place, instead of drifting apart, if they came from 400km away.

A retired army major and local resident, R.S. Jamnal, said: “The balloons are not big and could not have flown such a long distance. It may be a design by some people of the state to disturb the peace.”

Jamnal underlined that the China frontier was just about 120km from Tulyara.

Gulab Singh Panwar, a revenue official, said the flags probably represented a plot to “disturb the atmosphere” while an annual fair was under way in Tulyara. He didn’t explain how the plotters could have ensured the flags landed at a specific village.