London: 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 parents of Madeleine McCann are, however, awaiting the results of a DNA test after a girl suspected to be the missing child was spotted in Leh, the Daily Mail reported.
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 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 whiom 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.
“It all depends upon the evidence like DNA for which help from Madeleine’s parents and the British police was required,” a Leh police spokesman said.
Clarence Mitchell, spokesman for Madeleine’s parents, said: “Our private investigators are aware of reports from India about a possible sighting of Madeleine. We are liaising with the Indian authorities over the incident and await the results of the DNA test.”
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.
Kate McCann has said the kidnapper who took Madeleine may also have drugged her other two children. (IANS)