The skeletal remains of a man found in a forest in New Zealand in November 2005 was that of an Indian who went missing more than a decade ago, police said.
Detective Sergeant Craig Scott of Gisborne police said Balwinder Singh, also known as Babu Singh, was reported missing from Gisborne in October 1993 by a friend whom he was living with at the time. He was 23 then.
Singh was an Indian national who came to New Zealand in 1989 and became an overstayer, a news website quoted Scott as saying. He was arrested in April 1992 for possession of a fraudulent New Zealand passport and immigration removal orders were served on him at the time of his arrest, stuff.co.nz quoted Scott as saying. His application for refugee status in 1993 was declined.
The police had upgraded their investigation to a homicide inquiry and were seeking DNA samples from the man's parents who live in India in a bid to find out if the remains were his, the report said.
"The reasons for associating the disappearance of Balwinder Singh with the skeletal discovery was that the reconstruction by the forensic pathologist provided a similar description to the appearance of Balwinder Singh and the fact that Balwinder Singh's parents in India have not heard from him since the reported disappearance," Scott said.
"It is hoped that DNA samples being obtained from his parents in India will conclusively identify or eliminate Balwinder Singh from this inquiry," he said.
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