Marathon Boy Budhia Singh

Unwilling to return to the state-run Sports Hostel in Bhuabaneswar, marathon wonder boy Budhia Singh today recorded his statement with the police and Child Welfare Committee in connection with a case over his alleged kidnapping.

Marathon boy Budhia Singh, who could not be contacted after the end of the summer vacation of his sports hostel in early June, was today spotted at Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu even as police have registered a case of abduction on his "disappearance".

Budhia Singh, who shot to limelight after setting a new Limca record by successfully running a marathon of 65 km from Puri to Bhubaneswar in seven hours in May, 2006 at the tender age of four, was staying in the sports hostel after several child rights activists alleged exploitation of the boy

Gemma Atwal's documentary Marathon Boy, a film-festival favorite that will be shown on HBO on Thursday night, is a wrenching experience largely because it uses the moods and methods of true crime and pulp fiction to tell a story that is nominally about poverty, politics and the toxic mingling of celebrity culture and national pride in modern India.

Unwilling to return to the state-run Sports Hostel in Bhuabaneswar, marathon wonder boy Budhia Singh today recorded his statement with the police and Child Welfare Committee in connection with a case over his alleged kidnapping.

Marathon boy Budhia Singh, who could not be contacted after the end of the summer vacation of his sports hostel in early June, was today spotted at Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu even as police have registered a case of abduction on his "disappearance".

Budhia Singh, who shot to limelight after setting a new Limca record by successfully running a marathon of 65 km from Puri to Bhubaneswar in seven hours in May, 2006 at the tender age of four, was staying in the sports hostel after several child rights activists alleged exploitation of the boy

Gemma Atwal's documentary Marathon Boy, a film-festival favorite that will be shown on HBO on Thursday night, is a wrenching experience largely because it uses the moods and methods of true crime and pulp fiction to tell a story that is nominally about poverty, politics and the toxic mingling of celebrity culture and national pride in modern India.