The disappearance of over 2,000 children from New Delhi [Images] in the last 13 months was on Thursday raised forcefully in the Rajya Sabha, where members expressed fear that it could become a case similar to the shocking Nithari murders.

"This could be for organ sale," Bharatiya Janata Party leader Prabhat Jha said while raising the matter during Zero Hour.

With the Nithari incident still fresh in the public's mind, he said the disappearance of so many children was a grave matter and the government should take it very seriously.

Jha was supported by several members.

The shocking incident in Nithari in Noida, in which 19 children were brutally killed, allegedly by businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his servant Surinder Koli, shook the nation in February 2005.

Both Pandher and Koli were sentenced to death by a special court on February 13.