The breakthrough came early this year, when experts discovered an entry in the UK civil aviation registry in December 2005 matching to the stolen Messerchmitt.

“The manufacturer and construction number of G-CDTI (the new entry) is the same one traced by Ritger to the Gulbarga aircraft. As two aircrafts cannot have the same construction number, it is the missing Bf 109,” Jagan Pillarsetti, whose website www.warbirdsofindia.com, keeps a track of vintage aircraft in the country, told The Indian Express.

Ritger, a Bf 109 historian, also confirmed the identity of the aircraft.

“The WNr 4034 (manufacturing number of the Bf 109) was indeed registered on the civil register as G-CDTI and it appears to be in Europe,” Ritger confirmed. The aircraft has been registered to Rare Aero Ltd, based in Jersey, Channel Islands.

Efforts to trace the owners of Rare Aero Ltd have been unsuccessful. The buzz in international aviation forums is that Guy Black, a millionaire British aircraft collector who was rumored to have bought the aircraft in 2002, owns the company.

However, Black denies that he owns the plane. “There are all sorts of rumors about me but I do not own the company. I have heard about the aircraft and am very interested in buying it,” he told The Indian Express over the phone from England.

The Corps of Detectives (CoD) of the Karnataka police, which is investigating the case, is unaware that the aircraft had been registered in Europe. “ Investigations are still on but we cannot trace the main accused in the case. We know that the plane was taken out of the country but do not know where it is,” says B K Singh, SP (Special investigations), Corps of Detectives, Karnataka Police.