Gurdaspur (Punjab), Aug 7 - It's a plot straight out of a Bollywood film, except that it's unfolding in a Punjab village. A 37-year-old man applied for a voter I-card three years ago and was asked the name of his parents. He had no answer. And so began the quest for his identity.

Sant Ram has sought the intervention of the Punjab Human Rights State Commission (PHRSC) to get the DNA test of three men done to know who his father is.

The three, identified by Sant Ram as Teja Singh, Pritam Singh and Piara Singh of Punjab's Sangrur district, were connected to the sale of Sant Ram's mother for a paltry Rs.1,200 in the early 1970s.

Sant Ram had first approached the state human rights commission in 2006 seeking help to identify his parents. He faced an identification problem when he went to get his voter I-card made and was asked to provide the name of his father.

The commission asked the Punjab police to probe the matter. The police produced a 100-page report identifying his mother as Sahi Shanti, a mentally unstable woman. The identity of his father could not be established, though the three men were named as possibilities.

Sant Ram, who is married now and has three daughters and a son, lives in Nabipur village in the border district of Gurdaspur, 250 km from Chandigarh, and works as a labourer.