'However, after his return three years later with Singhe, he did not show any sign of having received any education. He can speak a smattering of Hindi and English but he can't either read or write.'

Both Singhe and the teenager have been kept under police surveillance in Sankhuwasabha.

Nepal's Maoists allege that followers of exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama are luring away children from Nepal's northern villages with the promise of educating them in India.

But they are in reality being `brainwashed' to be the Tibetan leader's followers, Maoist daily Janadisha said, an allegation that was rejected by the Dalai Lama's government in exile.

The Indian's detention comes even as a 42-year-old from India's Darjeeling town, Biren Pradhan, is under trial in Nepal for the kidnap and brutal murder of an 18-year-old high school student.

Currently, there is mass hysteria in Nepal about child lifters.

On Wednesday, students blocked part of the Araniko highway linking Nepal with China in a violent protest after locals in Thimi town lynched four teenaged students, suspecting them to be child abductors.

Two of the students died in the assault Tuesday while two more have been seriously injured.