Indian police probe 'human traffic' link to nine-year-old Sikh boy abandoned in London

Police in India believe they are closer to solving the mystery of a nine-year-old Sikh boy abandoned in London.

The child, Gurinder Singh, was found in a health centre in Southall unable to speak English.

He told police he had been living in Southall for three years with his "white uncle".

However, doubts have been raised over this account due to the boy's lack of native tongue.

Since he was found, police and social workers have been trying to piece together the life of the boy, who was unable to name any relatives.

But police in India are taking seriously a claim by a family in the Punjab that the child is theirs.

At first they thought he was an orphan after he told British police that his parents had died before he came to the UK, around two or three years ago.

Police said he had never been to school and lacked the social skills of most children his age.

Kuldip Singh, a Sikh from Hoshiarpur in Punjab, Northern India, said he had no doubt Gurinder was in fact his nephew Gurinderjit.

"We have recognised the photos and the markings on him," he said. "It confirmed that the boy is our son. A DNA test could quickly confirm this."

Mr Singh, a farmer, said Gurinderjit is the son of his younger brother Mohinder. He claimed the boy's mother Deepinder Kaur, who is estranged from her husband, last month entered the UK illegally.

He said: "Kaur, along with Gurinderjit, went to Malaysia then to France and later entered England in the second week of March 2008. Gurinderjit's mother is involved in human trafficking. She abandoned him there after illegally entering that country."

Singh said the claim was being made on behalf of Gurinderjit's father who was living illegally in another western country.

"The father cannot come out openly, so being his elder brother I have come forward to claim my nephew," he said.

Local MP Avinash Rai Khanna, who is backing the family's claim, said he would be taking the case to the Ministry of External Affairs.

Police in India said they had liaised with British authorities and were forwarding information on the boy, which they said they were "taking seriously".