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Aus: Toddler's death an accident, admits Dhillon

Last updated on: March 10, 2010 12:27 IST

Indian national Gursewak Dhillon, accused in the death of three-year-old Gurshan Singh Channa, has reportedly told Australian police that he accidentally knocked the toddler down when he opened the house door.

23-year-old Dhillon admitted disposing of the toddler's body but denied deliberately injuring the child, The Age reported.

He told police the boy was accidentally knocked unconscious on Thursday at the house in David Street, Lalor, where he had been staying with the toddler's family.

Dhillon has claimed he panicked and put the unconscious boy in the boot of a car, drove for about three hours and dumped the body 20 kilometres away in Oaklands Junction without checking if the three-year-old was alive.

Victorian police, however, said that the toddler could have been saved if he had received timely basic first aid than being left lying in the boot of a car.

Stating that if Dhillon's version that he accidentally knocked him unconscious as he opened the house door was true, police said that it was possible that Gurshan would have recovered from the accident if he was not left trapped in a car boot for hours, the local media here reported.

Meanwhile, forensic experts also tested the car that was used by the Gursewak to carry the toddler. According to The Age, forensic experts will test the car to see if the boy could have suffocated in the boot or could have died through carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty exhaust.

Natasha Chaku in Melbourne
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