Expressing annoyance at the way the police machinery of three states failed to track down a mother on the run for over two years along with her seven-year-old son, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the CBI to supervise custody of the child till it was decided who would be granted custodial rights.

On August 29, the apex court had directed the CBI to take over the matter.

A Bench comprising Justices Tarun Chatterji and G S Singhvi, before whom Vijayasree Voora and her son Aditya Chandra were produced on Tuesday, refused to issue any immediate directions for handing over the child's custody to either of the parents. Instead, the Bench asked the CBI to supervise the custody of Aditya, who is lodged in a CPWD guesthouse in the Capital at present.

Voora along with Aditya allegedly fled the US after a divorce dispute with her husband Ravichandran, who approached the SC in 2007. Voora, who reportedly brought Aditya to India in 2007 despite the State of New York Supreme Court giving joint custody to the parents, had been hiding at various places in the country.

While posting the matter for further hearing next week, the apex court came down heavily on the police machinery of three states -- Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu -- for failing to track down the mother-son duo. Last week, a CBI team traced Voora with Aditya in a rented house in Chennai.