18-year-old girl kidnapped by men posing as cops in Madhya Pradesh

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Panna: Five men wearing police uniforms allegedly kidnapped an 18-year-old girl from a village in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. While one of the accused has been identified, the police is yet to trace the girl.

"We have formed teams which have fanned out to trace and rescue the girl and arrest the accused," said district Superintendent of Police Riyaz Iqbal, refusing to divulge any further details.

Another police official said that on Saturday around 11.36 pm, the accused rang up the police emergency number 100 claiming that a man was lying unresponsive on a road in Bamhurha village, located about 60 km from the district headquarters.

Two policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector along with a hired driver in a van reached the spot. However, the man who was lying with his face down suddenly got up and pointed a gun at the security personnel, he said.

The other four accused, who were hiding in the area, came around, overpowered the policemen and the van driver and tied their hands behind their backs.

The official denied that the accused took away uniforms and weapons of the policemen.

He said the five men then sped off in the policemen's van to the girl's house in Bamhurha and knocked at her door.

When her father opened the door, the men posing as policemen asked him to come along with his daughter to the Amanganj police station in the area, claiming that the family had made a distress call to police for help.

The girl's father said they had not made any such call, but the accused insisted that he and his daughter come along with them, the police official said.

They then took the girl, her father and brother in the van. On the way, they dropped the girl's father and brother and took the girl to the spot where they had tied the policemen and parked the police van there, he said.

The accused along with the girl then drove off in a car parked near the spot, he added.

Police have registered a case under relevant sections for kidnapping against the five accused, of whom one has been identified, he said.

No arrest has been made so far, the official said, adding that efforts were on to trace the girl.