Two orchestra dancers abducted, gang-raped at gunpoint; eight held

Gorakhpur: Two orchestra dancers were allegedly abducted and gang-raped at gunpoint in in Ramkola police station area of Kushinagar district on Monday night. However, swift police action led to the rescue of the victims within two hours and the arrest of eight accused.According to Kushinagar SP Santosh Kumar Mishra, the accused arrived in two SUVs, fired shots and took the women to Sohani village in Kaptanganj area, where they raped her. Acting on a tip-off, police launched a manhunt and rescued the victims, arresting six suspects initially. A subsequent investigation led to the arrest of two more suspects— Nisar Ansari from Dhodharhi, Ramkola and Aditya Sahni from Kaptanganj on Tuesday. The two accused , in a bid to escape, later got engaged in a gunfight with police near Paroraha village in Ramkola before being injured and nabbed again. The other accused are—Nagendra Yadav of Deoria, Ashwan Singh, Krish Tiwari, and Arthak Singh and Dr Vivek Seth, all from Gorakhpur and Ajit Singh from Sohani, Kushinagar.Shockingly, some of the accused belong to well-regarded families. The police have recovered several items, including two SUVs, a motorcycle, a 12-bore pump-action gun, four .32-bore pistols, 10 used cartridges, 12 live bullets, 11 mobile phones, Rs 63,600 cash and six ATM cards. Further investigation in this connection is underway, said the Kushinagar SP.