Madeleine McCann, the British girl who has been missing for more than four years, was reportedly spotted in India.

The Daily Mail reports that a British woman spotted the youngster at a market in the northern Indian town of Leh, which is located in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. She then shared her concerns with other tourists, including two Americans and together the three tried to take the girl from the couple she was seen traveling with. They were unsuccessful.

The couple -- a French woman and her Belgian husband -- insisted they are the girl's parents, according to the Mirror.

Madeleine, who disappeared in 2007 just days before her fourth birthday, would now be eight years old.

Word of the spotting of a girl bearing a "striking resemblance" to the Madeline McCann, who disappeared while on vacation with her parents in Portugal, went viral on Twitter.

Several organizations have reported news of private investigators, hired by Madeline's parents Kate and Gerry McCann, working with Leh police taking DNA swabs on the girl.

A spokesman for Leh police reportedly told the Chandigarth Tribune in India:

"It all depends upon the evidence like DNA for which help from Madeleine's parents and the British police was required."

It was also reported that the passports of the little girl in India's family have been confiscated by the Indian authorities until the results of the DNA test have come back.

However, Clarence Mitchell, a spokesman for Madeline's parents, Kate and Gerry, said the latest reports were no more credible than other tips that proved incorrect over the years.

"They have learnt not to take these reports seriously," Mitchell said of the parents, adding: "There is nothing to suggest that this is a breakthrough."

He said he was not aware of any requests for DNA to match with the girl seen in India.

Furthermore, a regional police chief in India said he knew nothing about the sighting, the report of which seems to have originated in an Indian newspaper.

"We have not recovered any girl from Leh," said Abdul Gani Mir, deputy inspector general of police for central Kashmir and Leh.

"There is no question of carrying out DNA when you don't have the girl. I checked and re-checked from my officers on ground in Leh and they have categorically told me they have not recovered the girl," Mir told CNN.

The official Portuguese inquiry into the Madeline's disappearance was formally shelved in July 2008.

Kate McCann has said the kidnapper who took Madeleine may also have drugged her other two children. Her and her husband Gerry, who were at one point considered suspects in their daughter's disappearance, have hoped to renew interest in the case of late. Kate's new book, "Madeleine," reportedly details the night of her disappearance and the resulting search.

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