'Accused drove boy for 3 hours before dumping him'

The 23-year-old Indian man, charged over the death of a three-year-old boy, kept him unconscious in the boot of his car and drove around for at least three hours before dumping the toddler in a field north of Melbourne, police said on Sunday.

Dhillon Gursewak, who is one of the house mates of Gurshan Singh Channa's parents, "placed the child in the boot of his car unconscious but still alive", Ron Iddles, Senior Sergeant of the homicide squad, was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press.

"He then drove up to at least three hours with the child in the boot of the car, eventually stopping at Oaklands Junction, where he placed the child from the boot into the grass and did not check to see if the child was alive, then returned to 28, David Street, Lalor," Iddles said.

Gursewak was arrested on Sunday from his friend's house in Melbourne's north.

Iddles, however, did not say how the three-year-old boy became unconscious.

Gursewak appeared before the hearing dressed in a white polo shirt, black tracksuit pants and brown thongs and was calm throughout the hearing.

He refereed to the dead boy as "the kid... the kid that died" when asked who lived with him at the David Street address.

Gursewak, a part-time taxi driver who just bought a small truck and was due to start full-time work with a courier company on Wednesday, lived in Lalor with his wife. He has a daughter, who is living in India.

Gursewak applied for bail, offering to leave his passport and driver's licence, saying that he could stay at the Mill Park house where he was arrested.

Iddles said the police had spoken with the Gursewak's friend and were told that "because of the events that transpired today he is no longer welcome there".

Gursewak then gave the phone number of another friend, a man with whom he plays cricket and who lives in nearby Epping.

He said his friend would be happy to take him in as long as the media was kept away from the man's house.

Squad Detective Inspector Steve Clark tried the number, but found it to be out of service.

First bail justice Ben Czerniewicz then remanded Dhillon in custody amid concerns that he posed an unacceptable flight risk and could also tamper with witnesses in the case.

Dhillon is due to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Iddles said the police opposed Gursewak's bail because he had few ties to Australia and was under investigation by immigration officials over allegations that his passport may be forged.