Bhubaneswar, July 15: The Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Khurda, is planning to seek police help to trace Budhia Singh, the world's youngest marathon runner.

Budhia, who was dubbed the "miracle athlete", has not returned to the government-run sports hostel in Kalinga Stadium after the summer vacation, which ended on June 3.

On Thursday, the CWC had asked the state sports department to submit a report regarding the whereabouts of the child prodigy, which it received today.

CWC member Benudhar Senapati said: "The sports department, in its report, has claimed that Budhia had left the hostel three days before the start of the summer vacation on May 10. The department also said he had not re-joined the hostel after the vacation. They said they had written several letters to his legal guardian, but did not get any response. They claimed that they are not aware of his whereabouts."

Budhia had made headlines in 2006 after he ran a record-breaking 65km from Puri to Bhubaneswar in seven hours as a four-year-old.

Though it is suspected that Budhia is in Mumbai to promote his biopic - Budhia Singh - Born to Run - scheduled to release next moth, CWC said the production house also pleaded ignorance about his whereabouts. "We had a conversation with a production house official. We will send him an email seeking Budhia's whereabouts. If they also fail to give his location, we would formally lodge a compliant with the police," Senapati added. The Telegraph tried to contact Soumendra Padhi, the director of the film, but his mobile phone was switched off.

On the other hand, sports department officials expressed their inability to lodge a formal complaint with the cops. "Budhia has not been missing from the sports hostel. If he had gone missing from the hostel, we would have lodged a missing complaint," said an official of the sports department.

On June 22, the sports hostel authorities had contacted Budhia's legal guardian, who had claimed that he would join the hostel in the next three to four days. When he did not turn up, the hostel sent four coaches to his home at Saliasahi, but found neither him nor his mother. They sent a notice to his legal guardian on June 30. Despite all these initiatives, Budhia's whereabouts are yet to be known. Budhia has been with the sports hostel since 2007.

Budhia's mother Sukanti had sold him to a hawker for Rs 800, before his former coach Biranchi intervened and rescued him. Biranchi trained him into a long-distance runner.However, his dream of making it as a star suffered a blow after Biranchi was shot dead in 2008.<>