Muzaffarnagar:

The disappearance of a bride-to-be just hours before her wedding in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar district, a police complaint alleging abduction, and a social media post about her “death” sent investigators into a tizzy and sparked a massive manhunt, which ended after the woman was found in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior.

According to police sources, the chaos began on Tuesday evening, when the woman, Sushmana Sharma left her house to visit a beauty parlour, just hours before her marriage with Bharat Bhushan.

After the woman failed to return home and could not be traced, her family filed a police complaint, alleging she was abducted.

However, in a bid to save face in front of guests and relatives, the groom’s family posted on social media that the wedding could not take place as Sushmana died of a heart attack, the sources said.

The social media post, the sources added, went viral as netizens extended their sympathies to the groom’s family over the “devastating” development. 

The inconsistent claims by the woman’s family and the groom’s side left police puzzled, prompting them to launch a thorough investigation into the matter. 

New Mandi Circle Officer Rupali Roy Chowdhary told reporters that with the help of CCTV footage, the investigators tracked the bride’s movement and after hours of an intensive search, found her in Gwalior at around 8am on Wednesday. 

“Immediately upon receiving information about the woman’s disappearance, the police registered a case and formed two teams to trace her. She was found in Gwalior the following morning,” Ms Chowdhary said. 

The police did not provide any details but the sources said the woman escaped because she was not ready to marry Bharat. The sources also said the woman escaped with the help of a female friend. 

Asked about the rumour about the woman’s death on social media, Ms Chowdhary said: “A probe is underway.” 

Gwalior:

Two women were allegedly beaten up, with one of them tied to an electric pole, in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior district following which four persons have been arrested, police said on Wednesday.

The incident, which took place in Dabra town on Tuesday evening, was the fallout of a dispute over vacating a house, they said.

A purported video of the incident also surfaced on social media.

The police received information that some women were thrashed following a dispute.

A police team then reached the spot and found a woman was tied to an electricity pole and another woman was lying there on the ground, Dabra police station in-charge Yashwant Goyal said.

The woman, who was tied to the pole, told the police that one Vijay Agrawal and his associates had beaten them up following an old dispute over vacating a house and threw out their belongings, the official said.

The police registered a case against 14 person, including Agrawal, and four of them have been arrested so far, he said.

Search was on for the other accused, the official said.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Gwalior:

A couple has allegedly abandoned their three minor children, including a nearly two months old boy, at the Gwalior railway station in Madhya Pradesh, police said on Sunday.

The two girls, aged 6 and 7, and the boy, who had burn injuries, were found abandoned near the booking counter on Friday night, Railway Protection Force (RPF) police station in-charge Sanjay Arya told PTI.

The boy was immediately admitted to the government-run Kamla Raja hospital while the two girls were sent to a shelter home with the help of the women and child development department, he said.

The official said the girls told the police that they travelled in different trains for the previous two-three days with their parents who left after abandoning them while they were sleeping.

The girls also informed that they came here from Dholpur (Rajasthan), he said.

Some auto-rickshaw drivers confirmed the children were with their parents when they came here, the official said.

The police were examining CCTV footage of the area and search was on for the children’s parents, he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gwalior:

One person was injured in a firing after supporters of a BJP leader clashed with each other in front of the party’s office in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior city on Sunday, police said.

The incident occurred close to a police outpost in the Maharaj Bada area in the afternoon, an official said.

According to party sources, a fight broke out between supporters of BJP leader Bharat Singh Kushwaha, who is the party’s candidate from the Gwalior seat for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

“We were notified about the firing near BJ|P office. We rushed the injured man, Dharmendra Singh Gurjar, to a hospital,” Kotwali City Superintendent of Police (CSP) Ayush Gupta told PTI.

Dharmendra Singh Gurjar sustained a bullet injury to his arm, he said.

“The accused Rustam Singh was arrested and a firearm was recovered from him. A probe has been initiated to find out the reason for the clash,” the official said.

A fight broke out between two groups minutes after Bharat Singh Kushwaha left the party office, the groups exchanged blows and one of them opened fire, sources said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)