Indian child may not be victim of random attack: Report (Lead, changing dateline)

MELBOURNE - Australian investigators probing the death of a three-year-old Indian child in Melbourne are leaning away from the theory that he was the victim of a random attack, a media report said Saturday.

One possibility is that he died of natural causes and someone panicked and disposed of his body, The Herald Sun reported on its website citing the police.

Police hope toxicology tests and some others can provide some answers, it said.

Meanwhile, the grieving parents of Gurshan Singh Channa, who was found dead after he disappeared from his Melbourne home, paid their respects to their son at the city’s morgue Saturday.

Harpreet Kuar Channa and Harjit Singh Channa were taken to the Coroner’s Court in Kavanagh Street around 11 a.m.

Officials from the Indian consulate collected the Singhs from a relative’s home in the Melbourne suburb of Thomastown and drove them to the Coroner’s Court, where they spent an hour with the body of their son.

Gurshan’s body was found Thursday night at Oaklands Junction, 30 km from the Lalor home he had been staying in with his parents and several other adults.

An autopsy has failed to identify a cause of death, and his body showed no signs of violence.

Homicide detectives are continuing to investigate Gurshan’s disappearance and death.

Detectives examined suggestions that Gurshan disappeared after he tried “to follow” his father to the local library.

His parents made a statement Saturday at the state crime squad’s office about what they knew of the tragic events.

Singh said he was at the library when he received a phone call from his wife to say their son was missing.

Melbourne police Saturday urged the Indian community not to jump to conclusions over the death of Gurshan.