Nine-year-old dumped in London was snatched from us three years ago, say Indian couple

A couple in India claim a boy found in London last week is their nine-year-old son who was kidnapped from their home three years ago.

The youngster, known only as Gurrinder Singh, was abandoned at a bus stop in Southhall, West London, from where he wandered into a nearby clinic.

A Sikh who speaks only Punjabi, he told police he had been cared for by a white uncle for the past three years.

Ganga Prasad and Bindiya Devi, who live in the central Indian state of Bihar, alerted police there after seeing news bulletins showing photographs of the boy, claiming he is their son Sintu.

They say he would have turned nine this year.

Sintu was kidnapped in March, 2005. Despite several arrests and a police manhunt, he has not been traced. Police sources in India said it was "quite possible" that it was the same boy because their faces are similar.

The family have given officers photographs of their son.

Ganesh Kumar, a senior Indian police official, said the couple have set the wheels in motion to try to have the boy returned to India.

"News of the boy being found in London was shown on India channels," he added. "So parents from my district in Bihar maintain that the boy is their kidnapped son Sintu.

"They are very much adamant that the boy being shown in London is their son."

He said the matter was being referred to the federal authorities in Delhi "and then from there we will see what steps are required to get that boy back from London to our country".

He said Sintu disappeared three years ago and the family had received ransom calls which had led to arrests.

"We arrested four persons who were sent to prison but we were not able to find the boy," he said.

"At that particular time there were claims that ransom calls were made."

An Indian police source added: "The features are similar so it's quite possible he is the same boy but nobody is 100 per cent sure. We have to give them a chance to prove their claim."

Ganga Prasad said: "We saw the pictures of the boy with striking resemblance to our son on TV channels and have sought the help of district police for his repatriation."

British police and social workers have spent the past week trying to piece together the life of the boy, who was unable to name any relatives.

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.

Bihar's inspector general Anil Sinha said the Indian High Commission in London had been informed of the couple's claims.

He added: "It will be only after the DNA test of the mother and the child is matched, only then can the family claim the child as their own."