'Stolen boy' may be one of dozens

Justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin is setting up an investigation into the case of the Indian boy allegedly kidnapped from his home and later adopted by a Dutch couple.

'This is a very serious case,' Ballin is reported as saying. 'Think of the repercussions for everyone involved.'

The boy was allegedly kidnapped in 1999 and sold to a children's home with a false letter of acceptance from the parents. He was then brought to the Netherlands by a Dutch adoption agency and adopted by a Dutch couple.

TV show Netwerk reported on Monday that the Indian police want the child returned to India for DNA tests and to rejoin his biological parents. According to the Netwerk report the Dutch agency has known the child had been kidnapped since 2005.

Meanwhile, adoption specialist René Hoksbergen says it is possible that more Dutch adoption agencies are dealing in children stolen in India. He says 53 children have been brought to this country from the children's centre involved in the Netwerk case.