'Slumdog' actress defends her father

MUMBAI, April 23 (UPI) -- Rubina Ali, a 9-year-old Mumbai girl who appeared in the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire," denies her father tried to sell her.

"Access Hollywood" said Rubina and her father, Rafiq Qureshi, have spoken out together and denied a British tabloid's claims that Qureshi sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation for the adoption of his daughter.

"I talked to them in the room," Rubina told CNN of the meeting with supposed representatives of a wealthy family from Dubai, who turned out to be imposters hired by the newspaper for the story.

"My dad said I could meet people if I want to, 'But I will never give my daughter away for any amount of money,'" Rubina quoted him as saying.

While some reports have claimed Qureshi misunderstood the purpose of the meeting because he doesn't speak English well, "Access Hollywood" said undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood defended his story on "Larry King Live."

"It's completely untrue… We have seven hours of tape," Mahmood told King. "It's indisputable. Nothing gets in the News of the World newspaper unless it is 100 percent (true) and this is."

Mahmood said he set the meeting up with Rubina's dad after receiving information about a month ago from someone close to Qureshi who said "that he was interested in selling his child."

"All we did was investigate that and the allegations that were made to me," Mahmood said.

However, police said there is "no evidence of any offense" and declined to arrest Qureshi after questioning him, "Access Hollywood" reported.