Bride abducted on MP highway, rescued by cops

BHOPAL: A bride was kidnapped on a highway in clear daylight while heading to her in-laws' home with the groom and baraatis in MP's Guna district on Sunday.
A bunch of goons chased the newlyweds in an SUV, attacked the groom with knives, dragged her out and drove off with her. The sensational crime triggered an all-out police action and the bride was rescued from Dewas district, over 200km away.
"The groom says the bride knew the accused, but nothing can be said as of now. Things will be clear once she arrives in Guna and we record her statement," said subdivisional police officer Deepa Dudwe told TOI.
The groom, 24-year-old Vikarm Singh Banjara, is from Sawai Madhopur district in Rajasthan. He travelled 300km with his baraat to the 18-year-old bride's village in Ashoknagar's Ratikheda village on Saturday evening.
After the wedding, the bride and groom, along with the baraatis, began the return journey to Rajasthan. As per Vikram's complaint, they noticed that they were being followed by an SUV.
Kidnappers of bride were armed with knives: Cops
Around 60km into the trip, when their car reached Ruthiyai of Guna district, the SUV suddenly overtook the newlyweds' car and blocked it at 10.30am. A motorcycle too sped up and parked right behind the car, boxing it in.
Seven people came out of the car, armed with knives, says the groom's complaint. They smashed the windscreen, manhandled the groom, bundled the bride into the SUV and drove off. Some of them punctured the wheels of the groom's car with knives, the complainant told police. The alert went out instantly, and all nearby police stations were activated.
"We took swift action following the complaint. Search teams were sent out immediately and we managed to apprehend the kidnappers around 2pm in Dewas. Two of the accused managed to escape but the remaining five were arrested. The girl has been recovered safely, and they are all being brought to Guna," SDPO Deepa Dudwe told TOI.