Police treat boy's death as murder
A three-year-old boy who went missing while on a family visit from India has been found murdered.
Police said Gurshan Singh's body was found by a council worker in long grass by the side of a road in Oaklands Junction, in Melbourne's north, six hours after he disappeared on Thursday afternoon.
He was found 30km from where he was last seen, at a relative's home in Lalor, at 1.10pm (AEDT).
"Clearly, the circumstances are suspicious so we are fearing the worst," Deputy Police Commissioner Ken Jones told reporters on Thursday night.
"We are treating it ... as a homicide."
Mr Jones said that while police were investigating a number of areas there were no suspects at this stage.
Gurshan's mother, Hartreet Kaur Channa, told police she thought her son had walked out the David Street house front door while she was showering.
She rang police after he had been missing for 45 minutes, prompting a massive search involving more than 15 police units, the dog squad and air wing.
Mr Jones said the boy's body was found fully clothed in blue jeans and a grey top.
But he said he could not say how he had died.
He said the boy's Punjabi-speaking parents were talking with police interpreters and were due to formally identify the body later on Thursday night.
Gurhsan was in Australia on holiday with his family and was due to return to India later this week.
Mr Jones acknowledged the death would ignite massive media interest in India following a recent spate of violent acts on Indians in Melbourne.
"I would ask for calm and support from media to allow investigators time and space to conclude a thorough investigation."
He said Victoria Police would use every resource at its disposal and investigate every possibility to ensure the killer was brought to justice.
"We are not ruling anything in or anything out," he said.
"If foul play has taken place we will do everything in our power to find out what has taken place and to bring people to justice."
Mr Jones has called for any witnesses who saw Gurshan, described as an Indian with brown hair and approximately 100cm tall, to call Crime Stoppers.