Lost boy 'was snatched in India'

A family in the north Indian state of Bihar has claimed a boy who was abandoned at a west London bus stop is their son, who was kidnapped in 2005.

Gurrinder Singh, a Sikh who speaks only Punjabi, was found in a clinic in Hartington Road, Southall, last week.

Bindiya Devi, of Aurangabad town, said it is her son Shintu Kumar, who was abducted on 3 March at the age of six.

Bihar's Inspector General Anil Sinha said the Indian High Commission in London had been informed of the claims.

Mr Sinha told the BBC: "It will be only after the DNA test of both the mother and the child is matched only then the family can claim the child as their own. Otherwise it will be very difficult to say so."

"We are sure it is Shintu. I'm his mother, I recognised him at one glance"
Bindiya Devi, Shintu's mother

Gurrinder, aged nine, told Metropolitan Police officers a white man in his 30s who he referred to as his uncle, left him at a bus stop last week after they had lived together for three years.

A police spokesperson said Gurrinder said his parents were dead and officers are investigating whether he was a victim of child trafficking.

Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has also asked officials to look into the case after Bihar legislator Bhim Singh, whose wife is related to Shintu's mother, raised the issue with him.

On being asked about a distinctive mole on Gurrinder's left cheek Mr Singh said: "Shintu did not have a mole but it can come out at anytime naturally or created artificially.

"[Gurrinder's] eyes, nose, and even his gaze, is the same as Shintu's."

Bindiya Devi explained her family alerted her to the story.

"[They] recognised Shintu when she saw the boy's picture on a TV channel," she said.

"We saw his photo too... I know my child.

"He was kidnapped from Tikri area where he was playing and since then we filed a police complaint and told the media, but there were no results."

When told the boy found in London speaks only Punjabi, is Sikh and explained his parents were dead, she said she was still convinced.

"It has been three years and he was only an innocent child, they must have convinced him and told him this to console him," she said.

"We are sure it is Shintu. I'm his mother, I recognised him at one glance."

Aurangabad's superintendent of police, Ganesh Kumar, who saw pictures of both Gurrinder and Shintu said: "Features (the boys') are similar but its very difficult to be a hundred percent sure. The parents are adamant."

Mr Kumar added that four people have been charged over Shintu's kidnap, and are awaiting trial, but the boy was never found.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said they are aware of the claims and are looking into it.

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