'Slumdog Millionaire' has been getting a lot of acclaim but is making news for the wrong reasons as well. A child star from the film has gone missing.

Mohammed Azharuddin, 8, who played the role of Salim in the film, is missing from his Behrampada residence in western Mumbai.

His mother too has gone missing with him.

Police reports say that they fled due to harrassment by a former civic corporator, Nicholas Almeida. But he had a totally different story to tell.

He said, "On Monday, I went to the police station to give my statement. I saw Salim sitting in one of the officer's cabins.

I enquired where his house was and I went to visit him to ask whether they are giving him any education or any money. In the evening I went to meet some other children who were in the movie. From that day on he has been missing.

Today a newspaper reported that he is in Jalna, in Maharashtra, but Nisar Tamboli is saying that he is in Hyderabad. Let the police give it to me in writing. I am only concerned about the welfare of the child."

The buzz is that some two weeks ago Almeida had filed a complaint alleging that the people behind the film could be involved in the actor's disappearance. He even filed a defamation suit against the film's producer objecting to the use of the word 'Slumdog' in the title.

The police on their part are saying that the boy and his mother are in Hyderabad with relatives.