The father of the adorable child actress in "Slumdog Millionaire" denies a shocking report that he tried to sell his 9-year-old daughter for nearly $300,000.

The News of the World claims that Rafiq Qureshi and his second wife put young Rubina Ali, who starred as little Latika in the Oscar-winning film, on the shopping block. Qureshi reportedly said he "got nothing" from the film, which followed a Mumbai orphan’s rags-to-riches story. Staffers at the British tabloid posing as a wealthy Arab Sheikh couple said they wanted to adopt Rubina and take her to live in Dubai. Qureshi demanded 200,000 pounds, roughly $296,000 — which the dad’s brother said was a bargain because Ali is not an ordinary girl, but "an Oscar child."

Following the shocking News of the World report, Qureshi spoke with the BBC News website on Monday and said, "my daughter is not for sale."

Qureshi, in a lengthy interview, said he had been trapped into a situation of "great temptation," but he firmly denied accepting any deal to sell his daughter or give her up for adoption. Rubina and her father reportedly met three times with two people posing as a wealthy Arab couple from Thursday to Saturday.
After meeting with the couple twice at a Mumbai hotel, both parties met a final time in Qureshi’s hut. It was there when Qureshi says he denied their generous offer. "At this time they went to the memsaab and came back to us with an offer of 500,000 rupees as an advance. We refused, but they kept saying if we accepted the offer the money can be arranged in five minutes."

He also tells the BBC that he now feels deceived by the media.

"They played dirty with us, but we didn’t accept any money from them. My daughter is not for sale."

While Qureshi says he felt the couple pitied him and their poor situation, according to reports published in February, Rubina and her young co-star Azharuddin Ismail, 10, were both given homes by the Indian government for bringing "laurels to the country."