KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — One of the promises outgoing Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador made when he was first appointed was to personally oversee efforts for a "happy ending” in the case of M. Indira Gandhi, whose daughter was abducted by her Muslim convert ex-husband.

But with only a few days left before he retires, that is unlikely to happen.

"I had appealed to her (Indira) and senior officers to give me time and not to meddle with the case. She didn’t adhere to it. What happened was an NGO came out criticising here and there while ‘talks’ on our end (pertaining to the case) were being conducted.

"It would have been easy if he is here to arrest him but he is abroad. We can’t just go kidnap him. We needed to find diplomatic ground.

"Last year when efforts were underway, there was interference by civilians and NGOs that frightened him off. I sympathise with her (Indira) and I hope the next IGP will continue this fight,” he said.

Abdul Hamid had previously given his assurance that they were working hard to resolve the case, but said he was not at liberty to share details on their progress.

Indira’s former husband Muhammad Ridzuan Abdullah took the couple’s daughter, Prasana Diksa, in 2009 when she was just 11 months old shortly after converting to Islam. He had also converted their three children to Islam without Indira’s knowledge.

After a protracted court battle, the Federal Court ruled last January that the unilateral conversions of Indira’s children were unlawful.

However, the police have yet to recover Prasana and return her to Indira despite the decision and a previous mandamus order she secured compelling the inspector-general of police to execute the recovery.