'Someone close to family' involved in Brit toddler's abduction: Malik

London, Mar.7 (ANI): Claiming that the agencies are close to solve the case concerning the kidnapping of British toddler, Sahil Saeed, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that there is growing evidence of involvement of some family members in the abduction.

Talking to reporters in Islamabad, Malik said investigations suggest the hand of some one very close to the family being involved in Sahil's abduction, who was kidnapped from his grandmother's house in Punjab's Jhelum last week.

"There was someone very close to the family because of the way the situation happened, the way the abduction has happened, the way the entry was made, the way the conduct was made during that whole operation," Malik said.

He also warned the kidnappers to release the five-year old Sahil, as authorities were closing in on them.

"We have certain leads which we would not like to disclose but I'm warning to those abductors 'Leave the boy because we are very near to you'. We will make sure that we make an example out of it so that nobody dares to do these kinds of things in future," Malik said.

Meanwhile, sources have revealed that Sahil had travelled to Pakistan with his father after a row between his parents that left his mother Akila Naqqash stranded in their Oldham home, allegedly without her passport.

Family elders in Jhelum had encouraged a rapprochement between the couple, and the father and son were preparing to fly home when the kidnapping occurred, The Times reports.

It may be noted that Pakistani High commissioner to Britain, Wajid Shamsul Hasan, had first pointed towards 'insiders' role in the abduction.

However, Sahil's family members had out rightly rejected the notion.

Pakistani police officials had claimed to solve the case within 24 hours on Thursday, when Sahil was kidnapped, but admitted that they were clueless even after three days post the abduction.

"We are totally blind with no clue in hand so far about the kidnapped child, but our investigation continues. We are concerned about the safety and security of the child," senior olice official Raja Mohammad Tahir Bashir, who is heading a team of officials working on the case, had said on Sunday. (ANI)