Times of India reports of 26 people being arrested after a sub-inspector and three constables were held hostage and thrashed by a group of Muslim villagers in Kanhaisarai chowk village, of Lohta police station area in Varanasi, on Wednesday.
In order to investigate a minor girl’s kidnapping case, for which the girl’s father had lodged an FIR in Lohta police station, the sub-inspector and the constables had raided a house in that area. After three hours of the massive operation carried out by the police and PAC, led by SP (rural) Amit Kumar, the sub-inspector and the constables were ultimately rescued.
A minor girl of Ghamaria village had reportedly eloped with a Muslim boy named Shahid of Aurangabad a few weeks back. Following the FIR lodged by the girl’s father, police started investigating the matter. It was thus brought to light that the boy was in regular contact with a friend of his, residing in Ghamaria area.
SI Bhupendra Singh and the three constables reached the friend’s house, where they were informed that the youth was a way to meet his maternal grandfather, Haji Yasin. The four policemen along with the girl’s family members reached Yasin’s house in their civil dress. On enquiring about the youth, Yasin and his family members held the policemen hostage, trashed them and tied them to a pole, while the girl’s family managed to flee.
Inspector Lohta Ram Kumar sent few policemen to rescue his fellow policemen when he learned about the incident, but later realising the austerity of the situation, on the directives of the SSP, SP (rural) Amit Kumar collected policemen from 10 police stations, PAC and commandoes from the anti-terror squad and raided Kanhaisarai chowk village in the evening and nabbed 26 miscreants, who were identified through video clips.