Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Police have arrested persons who were involved in kidnapping of a woman and her two minor daughters after opening fire and injuring her husband in Chhatarpur district on Saturday, police said on Sunday.
The incident took place at 12.30 pm on Saturday in Sumedi village under Lavkushnagar police station limits, where the accused arrived on motorcycles and four-wheelers, said.
The attackers assaulted Hariram Pal and his family before abducting his wife and their daughters, aged 7 and 5, at gunpoint. The three were forced into an SUV and driven away as shots were fired in the air, the official said.
A video, widely shared on social media, purportedly shows the accused carrying out the kidnapping in full public view. Pal told reporters that he was shot at while trying to rescue his wife and children, but he survived.
Superintendent of Police Agam Jain has constituted five special teams to trace the remaining accused and announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for leads. The police have also arrested five accused of the case.
The incident has triggered an outrage, with the opposition Congress slamming the BJP-led state government over the law and order situation in the state.
"A woman and her two children were kidnapped in broad daylight in Chhatarpur. The accused opened fire and forcibly took them away in a car," state Congress president Jitu Patwari said in a post on X.
He claimed the state was creating "new records of lawlessness" despite alarming figures of crimes against women. He demanded to know why chief minister Mohan Yadav was silent on the issue.
