Two Dancers Kidnapped At Gunpoint In UP’s Kushinagar For Performance At Party, Then Gang-raped

The Uttar Pradesh Police arrested eight men in connection with the abduction and gang-rape of two orchestra dancers in Kushinagar district. The incident took place on Monday night, when the victims were forcibly taken from their rented accommodation.

According to the police, the assailants, armed with guns, abducted the dancers and took them to a house in the Kaptanganj area, where the assault happened.

Kushinagar Superintendent of Police Santosh Kumar Mishra detailed that the perpetrators arrived in two SUVs and, amid ongoing gunfire, took the victims to the residence of one of the suspects, Ajit Singh, in the Kaptanganj area, where the gang-rape allegedly took place.

One of the accused told the police that their intention was not to demand ransom but to force the dancers into performing at Ajit’s birthday party of Ajit Singh.

The suspects reportedly consumed alcohol and, in their inebriated state, decided to abduct the dancers for entertainment. When the dancers refused to accompany them, the perpetrators allegedly brandished firearms and fired warning shots to coerce compliance. The local residents were also alarmed by the gunfire, as per an NDTV report.

Upon receiving reports of the incident, police intervened, rescuing the dancers and arresting six of the suspects—Arthak Singh, Nagendra Yadav, Ashwan Singh, Ajit Singh, and Vivek Seth—on Monday night.

The remaining two suspects, Nisar Ansari and Aditya Sahni, were subsequently located during a police checkpoint near a canal on Tuesday evening. During an attempt to arrest them, the suspects opened fire, leading to a shootout in which both were injured and captured.

Police have released footage of Ansari and Sahni in wheelchairs, with their legs plastered and visibly injured, as they plead for forgiveness. In the video, they are shown holding their ears and begging, “Please forgive us. This won’t happen again.”

The authorities also seized a significant cache of weapons and other items from the suspects. The recovered items include two SUVs, a motorcycle without a license plate, an illegal factory-made pistol, seven shotguns, four additional illegal pistols, ten spent cartridges, twelve live rounds, eleven mobile phones, and a Nepali SIM card.

(With inputs from agencies)