Indian toddler vanishes, found dead in Oz

Lalor: Australian police are on the hunt for a child killer after the body of a missing toddler was found 20 km away from where he had disappeared six hours earlier.

The Indian boy, Gurshan Singh Kaurchanna, 3, who was on a three-month holiday in Australia with his father, vanished from a relative's house in Lalor at about 1.10 pm (Australian time) on Thursday, while his mother was having a shower. (Read: Oz Police hunting for killer of Indian toddler)

Both parents now grief the death of their little boy whose dead body they have not been allowed to see.

"I'm not in a condition that I can speak," said his father Harjit Singh.

Gurshan's parents and relatives regret having left the front and the back doors of the house open. The neighbours claim that Thursday was pension day and on a busy day like that they claim it's strange that no one noticed the boy being taken away or wandering in the neighbourhood.

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The family from Faridkot district in Punjab, which was due to leave Australia soon, told the police that Gurshan was playing at home. His mother, Harpreet Kaur, who is studying in Australia, was in the bathroom and came out to see the security door ajar and Gurshan gone. After a frantic search on the premises, a family member called the police.

The boy went missing while his father was at library. The boy was distraught that he was not allowed to go with his father. According to reports, there were couple of people in the house when the boy went missing.

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Back in India as well, in Faridkot, Punjab Gurshan's grandparents mourn the shocking death of their grandson who they were expecting to see in the coming week.

"We received a call from Australia that our Gurshan had been kidnapped, and then murdered. This is very wrong and our government must act tough in this regard," said Gurshan's grandfather Darshan Singh.

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"We got a phone call that our grandson has been murdered. This has been very wrong indeed," said Gurshan's grandmother Gurmeet Kaur.

A massive hunt was launched and a council worker discovered the body at Oaklands Junction, close to the Melbourne airport after 7 pm. An Australian newspaper website quoted the police as saying that the body found was in grey top and blue jeans. This is what Gurshan had been wearing when he went missing.

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Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones was quoted by Australian media as saying that they believed the child had been murdered. ''We are treating as worst case ... as a homicide,'' he said. ''This is a terrible tragedy. (Read: Toddler's death in Oz: Indian community shocked)

''We are doing everything in our power to establish what happened. Clearly the circumstances are suspicious, so we are assuming the worst.''

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Jones assured that all resources would be put in to bring the culprits to justice.

Meanwhile, in Australia, despite the political differences and strained relationships between both the countries, the Indian and Australian communities have come out in support of the grieving family.

Australian PM Kevin Rudd, described the incident as a human tragedy of the worst kinds. 

"The death of any little child causes everyone in this country to stop, pause, think, reflect. If this is a case of murder there is nothing worse, nothing worse, than the brutal murder of a little child. The authorities are investigating it, we are confident the authorities will get to the bottom of it," he said.