diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e1cac439515..81c256b2f24 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ Docs: https://docs.openclaw.ai
 - Codex auth: accept OAuth profiles backed by `oauthRef` during runtime auth selection, so official Codex OAuth logins are used by app-server agent runs. (#81633) Thanks @obviyus.
 - Sessions/status: classify ACP spawn-child sessions as `kind: "spawn-child"` instead of `"direct"` in `openclaw sessions` and status output; extract the duplicated session-kind classifier into a shared helper (`src/sessions/classify-session-kind.ts`) so both surfaces stay in sync. Fixes catalog #19. (#79544)
 - Sessions/Gateway: report `agentRuntime.id: "acpx"` (or stored backend id) with `source: "session-key"` for ACP control-plane session rows in `openclaw sessions --json`, `openclaw status`, and Gateway session RPC responses instead of the incorrect `"auto"` / `"pi"` implicit fallback. Fixes catalog #18. (#79550)
+- Telegram: release stopped polling leases after the gateway stop grace so in-process restarts can reuse the same bot token without weakening active duplicate-poller protection. Fixes #81507. (#81890) Thanks @joshavant.
 - Telegram: delete tool-progress-only draft bubbles before rotating to the real answer, preventing orphaned progress messages in streamed replies.
 - Codex app-server: keep per-agent `CODEX_HOME` isolation without rewriting `HOME` by default, so Codex-run subprocesses can still find normal user-home config, tokens, and CLI state unless the launch explicitly overrides `HOME`. Thanks @pashpashpash.
 - ACP: preserve redacted numeric JSON-RPC `RequestError` details in runtime failure text, so backend diagnostics are visible instead of only `Internal error`. Fixes #81126. (#81188) Thanks @vyctorbrzezowski.
diff --git a/extensions/telegram/src/channel.gateway.test.ts b/extensions/telegram/src/channel.gateway.test.ts
index f30ec842624..5b821a58a7a 100644
--- a/extensions/telegram/src/channel.gateway.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/telegram/src/channel.gateway.test.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@ import type { OpenClawConfig } from "openclaw/plugin-sdk/config-contracts";
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import { telegramPlugin } from "./channel.js";
 import type { TelegramMonitorFn } from "./monitor.types.js";
+import {
+  acquireTelegramPollingLease,
+  resetTelegramPollingLeasesForTests,
+} from "./polling-lease.js";
 import { clearTelegramRuntime, setTelegramRuntime } from "./runtime.js";
 import type { TelegramProbeFn } from "./runtime.types.js";
 import type { TelegramRuntime } from "./runtime.types.js";
@@ -115,6 +119,7 @@ async function waitForCondition(check: () => boolean, message: string, attempts
 
 afterEach(() => {
   clearTelegramRuntime();
+  resetTelegramPollingLeasesForTests();
   resetTelegramStartupProbeLimiterForTests();
   probeTelegram.mockReset();
   monitorTelegramProvider.mockReset();
@@ -333,6 +338,44 @@ describe("telegramPlugin gateway startup", () => {
     expect(probeTelegram).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
     expect(monitorTelegramProvider).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
   });
+
+  it("releases a stopped stale polling lease for the account token", async () => {
+    vi.useFakeTimers();
+    try {
+      const cfg = createTelegramConfig();
+      const account = telegramPlugin.config.resolveAccount(cfg, "default");
+      const stopAccount = telegramPlugin.gateway?.stopAccount;
+      if (!stopAccount) {
+        throw new Error("expected Telegram stopAccount gateway handler");
+      }
+
+      const abort = new AbortController();
+      await acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123456:bad-token",
+        accountId: "default",
+        abortSignal: abort.signal,
+      });
+      abort.abort();
+
+      const stop = stopAccount(
+        createStartAccountContext({
+          account,
+          abortSignal: abort.signal,
+          cfg,
+        }),
+      );
+      await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(5_000);
+      await stop;
+
+      const next = await acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123456:bad-token",
+        accountId: "default",
+      });
+      next.release();
+    } finally {
+      vi.useRealTimers();
+    }
+  });
 });
 
 describe("telegramPlugin outbound attachments", () => {
diff --git a/extensions/telegram/src/channel.ts b/extensions/telegram/src/channel.ts
index 98f9f11824d..75d329ef7e1 100644
--- a/extensions/telegram/src/channel.ts
+++ b/extensions/telegram/src/channel.ts
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ import * as monitorModule from "./monitor.js";
 import { looksLikeTelegramTargetId, normalizeTelegramMessagingTarget } from "./normalize.js";
 import { createTelegramOutboundAdapter } from "./outbound-adapter.js";
 import { parseTelegramThreadId } from "./outbound-params.js";
+import { releaseStoppedTelegramPollingLease } from "./polling-lease.js";
 import type { TelegramProbe } from "./probe.js";
 import * as probeModule from "./probe.js";
 import { resolveTelegramReactionLevel } from "./reaction-level.js";
@@ -953,6 +954,19 @@ export const telegramPlugin = createChatChannelPlugin({
           setStatus,
         });
       },
+      stopAccount: async ({ account, accountId, log }) => {
+        const token = (account.token ?? "").trim();
+        if (!token) {
+          return;
+        }
+        const released = await releaseStoppedTelegramPollingLease({
+          token,
+          accountId,
+        });
+        if (released) {
+          log?.info?.(`[${accountId}] released stopped Telegram polling lease`);
+        }
+      },
       logoutAccount: async ({ accountId, cfg }) => {
         const envToken = process.env.TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN?.trim() ?? "";
         const nextCfg = { ...cfg } as OpenClawConfig;
diff --git a/extensions/telegram/src/polling-lease.test.ts b/extensions/telegram/src/polling-lease.test.ts
index 93744a6bb7b..d56b2f4b1fa 100644
--- a/extensions/telegram/src/polling-lease.test.ts
+++ b/extensions/telegram/src/polling-lease.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { beforeEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import {
   acquireTelegramPollingLease,
+  releaseStoppedTelegramPollingLease,
   resetTelegramPollingLeasesForTests,
 } from "./polling-lease.js";
 
@@ -99,4 +100,114 @@ describe("Telegram polling lease", () => {
       vi.useRealTimers();
     }
   });
+
+  it("does not release a no-signal active lease", async () => {
+    const first = await acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+      token: "123:abc",
+      accountId: "default",
+    });
+
+    await expect(
+      acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123:abc",
+        accountId: "ops",
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow('refusing duplicate poller for account "ops"');
+
+    await expect(
+      releaseStoppedTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123:abc",
+        accountId: "default",
+      }),
+    ).resolves.toBe(false);
+
+    await expect(
+      acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123:abc",
+        accountId: "ops",
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow('account "default"');
+
+    first.release();
+  });
+
+  it("does not release a non-aborted active lease", async () => {
+    const abort = new AbortController();
+    const first = await acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+      token: "123:abc",
+      accountId: "default",
+      abortSignal: abort.signal,
+    });
+
+    await expect(
+      releaseStoppedTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123:abc",
+        accountId: "default",
+      }),
+    ).resolves.toBe(false);
+
+    await expect(
+      acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123:abc",
+        accountId: "ops",
+      }),
+    ).rejects.toThrow('account "default"');
+
+    first.release();
+  });
+
+  it("releases an aborted same-account lease after the stop wait elapses", async () => {
+    vi.useFakeTimers();
+    try {
+      const abort = new AbortController();
+      const first = await acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123:abc",
+        accountId: "default",
+        abortSignal: abort.signal,
+      });
+      abort.abort();
+
+      const release = releaseStoppedTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123:abc",
+        accountId: "default",
+        waitMs: 10,
+      });
+      await vi.advanceTimersByTimeAsync(10);
+      await expect(release).resolves.toBe(true);
+
+      const next = await acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123:abc",
+        accountId: "default",
+      });
+      next.release();
+      first.release();
+    } finally {
+      vi.useRealTimers();
+    }
+  });
+
+  it("releases an aborted same-account lease immediately with no stop wait", async () => {
+    const abort = new AbortController();
+    const first = await acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+      token: "123:abc",
+      accountId: "default",
+      abortSignal: abort.signal,
+    });
+    abort.abort();
+
+    await expect(
+      releaseStoppedTelegramPollingLease({
+        token: "123:abc",
+        accountId: "default",
+        waitMs: 0,
+      }),
+    ).resolves.toBe(true);
+
+    const next = await acquireTelegramPollingLease({
+      token: "123:abc",
+      accountId: "default",
+    });
+    next.release();
+    first.release();
+  });
 });
diff --git a/extensions/telegram/src/polling-lease.ts b/extensions/telegram/src/polling-lease.ts
index 05baf7fa862..9e853b576ee 100644
--- a/extensions/telegram/src/polling-lease.ts
+++ b/extensions/telegram/src/polling-lease.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,12 @@ type AcquireTelegramPollingLeaseOpts = {
   waitMs?: number;
 };
 
+type ReleaseStoppedTelegramPollingLeaseOpts = {
+  token: string;
+  accountId: string;
+  waitMs?: number;
+};
+
 type WaitForPreviousResult = "released" | "timeout" | "aborted";
 
 function pollingLeaseRegistry(): TelegramPollingLeaseRegistry {
@@ -58,6 +64,9 @@ async function waitForPreviousRelease(params: {
   if (params.signal?.aborted) {
     return "aborted";
   }
+  if (params.waitMs <= 0) {
+    return "timeout";
+  }
 
   let timer: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | undefined;
   let abortListener: (() => void) | undefined;
@@ -184,6 +193,33 @@ export async function acquireTelegramPollingLease(
   }
 }
 
+export async function releaseStoppedTelegramPollingLease(
+  opts: ReleaseStoppedTelegramPollingLeaseOpts,
+): Promise<boolean> {
+  const registry = pollingLeaseRegistry();
+  const fingerprint = fingerprintTelegramBotToken(opts.token);
+  const existing = registry.get(fingerprint);
+  if (!existing || existing.accountId !== opts.accountId) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  if (!existing.abortSignal?.aborted) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  const waitResult = await waitForPreviousRelease({
+    done: existing.done,
+    waitMs: opts.waitMs ?? DEFAULT_TELEGRAM_POLLING_LEASE_WAIT_MS,
+  });
+  if (waitResult === "released" || registry.get(fingerprint) !== existing) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  registry.delete(fingerprint);
+  existing.resolveDone();
+  return true;
+}
+
 export function resetTelegramPollingLeasesForTests(): void {
   pollingLeaseRegistry().clear();
 }