Melbourne police have launched a hunt for the killer of a three-year-old Indian boy found dead yesterday (Thursday) after he disappeared from a house in the city’s north.
A council worker found the body of Gurshan Singh Channa in long grass on the side of a road near Melbourne Airport at Tullamarine just before 7pm.
The boy, who had been visiting Australia on a holiday with his family, went missing around 1pm from a house in David St, Lalor.
His mother, Harpreet Kaur Channa, raised the alarm with police, sparking a massive search of the area. Detectives were called in after police confirmed the discovery of the body at Wildwood Rd, Oaklands Junction, about 20km from where he went missing.
Police said the boy was found in the same clothes he was wearing when he went missing.
They declined to give details of injuries the boy had suffered, or to speculate on the precise cause of his death.
The family's friend and housemate, Sim Kuar, 24, said Gurshan's parents had been unhappy in Melbourne and had booked flights home to India.
Ms Kuar, an Indian national, said she was at the home when the boy disappeared.
She told The Age newspaper it wasn't clear how he left the house, but the front and rear doors were often left unlocked while there were people at home.
“It is easy to unlock,” she said, pointing to the latch on the front security door.
At a media conference called late last night, Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones said it was believed the child had been murdered.
''We are treating as worst case … as a homicide,'' he said. ''This is a terrible tragedy.
''We are doing everything in our power to establish what happened. Clearly the circumstances are suspicious, so we are assuming the worst.''
Sir Ken said the boy's parents were not suspects and that ''at this stage, we are taking the information provided by the parents at face value. At this stage we have no suspects.''
Asked what reassurances he would give people in India already concerned about recent attacks on Indian students in Melbourne, Sir Ken called for calm.
''I would say that Victoria Police, and in fact any resources across the Commonwealth, will be put at our disposal. If foul play has taken place we will do everything within our power to find out precisely what has happened and to bring people to justice. They can take my assurance on that,'' he said.
Sir Ken appealed for witnesses, either near the Lalor home or Oaklands Junction, to come forward with information, no matter how trivial it might seem.