Dad denies trying to sell 'Slumdog' star

MUMBAI, April 20 (UPI) -- Rubina Ali's father said he doesn't intend to sell the 9-year-old Mumbai-born "Slumdog Millionaire" actress, despite a report that he tried to do so.

The News of the World said during the weekend that Rafiq Qureshi, Rubina's father, met with reporters posing as a wealthy Dubai family seeking to adopt the child and demanded nearly $300,000 in compensation, allegedly stating he was dissatisfied with what the "Slumdog" filmmakers had paid Rubina for her work on the Oscar-winning movie.

The newspaper also published photographs of Rubina and her father meeting with its undercover journalists.

Qureshi admitted to the BBC News Web site Monday that he felt he was backed into a situation of "great temptation," but he emphatically denied making a deal to sell his daughter or allow her to be adopted.

"In the phone calls they said a wealthy Arab couple had been moved to see the plight of Rubina on al-Jazeera TV," he explained. "The sheik and his wife were very upset to see (her) plight and decided to help (her) out. And then we agreed to meet them."

Qureshi said when he realized exactly what the people who contacted him wanted he declined the offer even though they were persistent.

"When I woke up on Sunday morning the story on me was on all the TV channels," he told the BBC. "I switched off my mobile phone because I knew there will be calls from the media and I didn't have any faith in the media after what I went through on the weekend. They played dirty with us, but we didn't accept any money from them. My daughter is not for sale."