Armed Man, kin try to kidnap woman; MP CM holds meet to review law and order

Representational images. Pic/iStock

A man, his siblings and father as well as an associate armed with a sword and an iron rod attempted to kidnap a woman in full public view in Ashok Nagar in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, reported PTI. A video of the incident went viral on social media soon after.

The incident took place on Thursday evening. As per the PTI report, the accused, who were on motorcycles, left the 22-year-old woman behind after people started gathering to stop them.

The accused had tried to drag the woman along with them.

The brazen act led to MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to hold a meeting in Bhopal on Friday evening to review the law and order situation in the state, a government release said.

Police were given strict instructions to check crimes, the release added. Police officials said prime accused Saleem Khan, his brothers Shahrukh Khan (27) and Sameer Khan (26) as well as their father Abid Khan (58) and one Tofiq Khan (25) were booked at 1 am on Friday.

Saleem Khan was arrested thereafter for repeatedly raping the woman as well as other offences, they said, adding that the case was registered after a protest by some right wing Hindu outfits. Later during the day, an allegedly illegal portion of the accused's house was demolished, officials said.

"Khan had repeatedly raped the 22-year-old woman (earlier) and was blackmailing her for some time. After the woman's marriage was fixed with another man, Khan got furious and took his kin's help to kidnap her," Kotwali police station inspector Manish Sharma said.

As per the police, the accused also hit the woman's father and mother. In the evening, CM Yadav, who is also MP Home Minister, visited the police headquarters in Bhopal and gave necessary instructions to top officials to rein in criminals and check crimes, said the PTI report citing officials.

Yadav raised the Ashok Nagar incident with top officials and asserted police must instill fear in the mind of the criminals, the government release said.