Srinagar, July 28 (IANS) The Jammu and Kashmir Police Thursday denied media reports that a British girl who had reportedly gone missing in Portugal four years ago was found in Leh.
Talking to some media persons here Thursday evening, Abdul Gani Mir, deputy inspector general of police (DIG), said: ‘We have not recovered any missing foreign girl from Leh.’
‘There is no question of carrying out a DNA test since we don’t have the girl. Our field staff in Leh have confirmed that no such girl has been recovered by them.’
‘A British media report said that a girl missing for the last four years from Portugal had been sighted in Leh district of the state. We have no such confirmation from either the police or the district administration,’ the DIG said.
Earlier, a British newspaper report had said a four-year-old British girl, who was allegedly kidnapped while on a holiday in Portugal in 2007, has reportedly been tracked down to Leh city in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state.
The report in the Daily Mail also said the parents of Madeleine McCann are, however, awaiting the results of a DNA test on the girl.
Kate and Gerry McCann’s team of private investigators said they were working with Leh police who were alerted after a British woman spotted a girl she thought to be Madeleine. The abducted girl would now be eight years old.
‘Madeleine was about to celebrate her fourth birthday when she went missing on a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007,’ the daily said.
‘The woman who found the girl raised concerns with other tourists who agreed with her.’
‘An American man even reportedly tried to take the girl from the couple with whom she was.’
‘However, the French woman and her Belgian husband insisted they were the parents of the girl.
‘Leh police have now taken swabs so that DNA tests can be carried out on the girl,’ the Daily Mail report had said.
Kate and Gerry McCann recently launched a book about how she disappeared. Proceeds from the book, titled ‘Madeleine’ go towards the funding of their search for their daughter.
The official Portuguese inquiry into the girl’s disappearance was formally shelved in July 2008.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has also asked Scotland Yard to carry out a review of the investigation, the Daily Mail report said.
