Australia launches major probe into Indian toddler's death

Australian police yesterday launched a major investigation after a three-year-old Indian boy's body was found dumped by a Melbourne roadside, threatening to cast a fresh shadow over ties.

Victoria state premier John Brumby said he found the death of Gurshan Singh, who was visiting from Punjab in northern India, "personally distressing" but urged people not to speculate about the case.

"What has occurred is an unthinkable tragedy. It's deeply, deeply distressing," Mr Brumby told reporters.

"There are no visible signs of the cause of death at this stage... but I think it's very important that no one jumps to conclusions," he added.

The little boy disappeared from a suburban house at about 1 p.m. (0200 GMT) Thursday while his mother was taking a shower. He was last heard screaming, upset because his father had left for a nearby library without him.

"He stopped shouting and I thought, what happened?" housemate Sim Kaur, 24, told reporters.

The boy's body was found about six hours later some 30 kilometres away, not far from the city's airport. An autopsy failed to reveal the cause of death.

Officials pleaded for privacy for the "shattered" parents, who were seeing grief counsellors, and appealed for calm. The boy, whose mother was studying in Australia, had been in the country for about six weeks.

"Of course we are asking for calm in the Indian community throughout Melbourne and also the Indian community back in India," said local councillor Tim Singh Laurence.

His death comes as Foreign Minister Stephen Smith seeks to smooth over relations with India, a major export market, after a series of alleged race attacks including the killing of an Indian student in Melbourne in January.

Mr Smith, the latest in a series of top officials to visit India in recent months, met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday and assured him "that the Australian government was taking the issue of Indian student safety seriously".

Mr Smith had earlier acknowledged that some of the attacks, which prompted street protests last year, were "racist" following a series of denials by senior officials and police.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described the little boy's death as a "really horrible story".

"The death of any little child causes everyone in this country to stop, pause, think, reflect," he said.

"If this is a case of murder, there is nothing worse than the brutal murder of a little child. The authorities are investigating it and we have every confidence the authorities will get to the bottom of it."

State premier Mr Brumby added that state police were using "every possible resource" and their "best investigators" to solve the case, and appealed for witnesses.

Hundreds of Indian nationals, among around 100,000 studying in Australia, have been robbed and beaten over the past 18 months culminating in January's stabbing murder of Nitin Garg, 21, as he walked to work at a burger restaurant.

The attacks, which have prompted damning coverage in Indian media, have badly damaged Australia's image abroad and have also hit its 15 billion US dollar industry educating foreign students, mostly from Asian countries.

Australia has sought to repair ties with a charm offensive involving a series of diplomatic visits to India and by enlisting legendary cricketer Shane Warne to meet Indian students.

Last month, thousands of Australians visited Indian restaurants for a "Vindaloos Against Violence" campaign aimed at showing solidarity with the 450,000-strong community.

Initial Indian media reaction to Gurshan Singh's death was muted, contrasting with widespread coverage to attacks on Indian students.