Police are investigating whether a ten year old Russian girl was 'won' by a middle aged man after her father 'lost to him in a game of cards'.

The child was missing for 48 hours after her abductor grabbed her as she walked to school - in the remote village of Volochaevka in Russia's far east - before driving off in his red car.

The kidnapping was witnessed by an 11-year-old boy who reported it to his teachers.

Ekaterina Bachurina (pictured) was missing for 48 hours after her abductor grabbed her as she walked to school - in the remote village of Volochaevka in Russia's far east - before driving off in his red car

After being arrested, Sergey Ponomarev (left) told police he 'won the girl' in a card game against her 30-year-old father Alexander Bachurin (right)

Ekaterina (Katya) Bachurina spent at least one night with the man, named by police as Sergey Ponomarev, 40, when he told hotel staff she was his daughter.

After being arrested, he told police he 'won the girl' in a card game against her 30-year-old father Alexander.

The father has been detained now, and is being quizzed by police.

Investigators are also examining other macabre scenarios, namely a suspicion that the child was to be used as a sex slave or that she could have been sold to a black market gang trading in human body parts.

The kidnapper took the girl on a terrifying 300 miles odyssey after seizing her in Volochaevka village, which is in the Jewish Autonomous Region

Having checked into the hotel in Progress (shown by the letter 'B' above), a village in Amur region, he moved out a day later as a massive police and volunteer hunt got underway in the Russian Far East

'The child is now in hospital in Khabarovsk where initial checks suggest she was not sexually assaulted, and suffered no physical injuries,' reported The Siberian Times.

A woman dubbed Ponomarev's 'accomplice' is also being held.

The kidnapper took the girl on a terrifying 300 miles odyssey after seizing her in Volochaevka village, which is in the Jewish Autonomous Region.

Having checked into the hotel in Progress, a village in Amur region, he moved out a day later as a massive police and volunteer hunt got underway in the Russian Far East.

Sergey Ponomarev ditched his car and walked the girl through the snow before being given shelter by a man in a village house which police stormed. They freed the girl, and arrested the man

Then he ditched his car and walked the girl through the snow before being given shelter by a man in a village house which police stormed. They freed the girl, and arrested the man.

Ekaterina's mother Olga Pogarskaya, 29, claimed her ex-husband would not have bet on his daughter in a card game.

'I do not believe he could do this,'' she said.

'Whatever he is, he is still her dad. He loves her very much. They often see each other.

'As soon as the offender told about it, Alexander was immediately arrested by the police.'