Day-long hostage drama ends in Bhopal
BHOPAL: A day-long hostage drama in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhopal ended on Friday night when a 30-year-old man and the woman he had held captive at an apartment emerged and were whisked away by the police.
The man, identified as Rohit Singh , allowed the police to enter the apartment at 7pm, and was led outside along with the woman. The woman was on a stretcher and Singh had his face covered. They were made to board a waiting police vehicle.
Superintendent of police (South) Rahul Lodha said the police had been negotiating with Singh for the past 12 hours though video and voice calls to bring the drama to an end.
“His only demand was that they were in love and he wanted to marry the girl and that the police should help him. I told him that since both were adults, no one could stop them. We also talked to the girl, who also said that she wanted to go with Rohit. Our main aim was to get both of them out safely and we did.”
The SP said it appeared Singh was upset with the woman’s parents, who were against their marriage and had registered a case against him and got him arrested. He added that both would be counselled and action would be taken according to the law.
Deputy inspector general of Bhopal Dharmendra Choudhary said the police had formally arrested Rohit. “We have booked him under Section 307 (attempted murder) for attacking the woman and also attacking a policeman when he had tried to rescue the girl. Rohit has also been charged for holding the girl captive (sections 342, 506 of IPC).”
The DIG said the woman said in her statement before police that she did not want to marry Rohit, and feared for her life. She said that earlier she had agreed to whatever Rohit was saying as he was armed with scissors and a gun, and was threatening her. She gave the statement from her hospital bed late on Friday night.
The man barged into her house early in the morning and took her hostage at gunpoint, claiming he wanted to marry her. He then locked himself up with her in a room, later heightening the drama by releasing a video clip in which a woman is seen lying on a bed and what is purported to be blood over the floor.
Police said the woman, who holds a master’s degree in technology, met Singh while she was on a modelling assignment in Mumbai. The girl’s parents did not speak to the media but appealed to Singh to release her. They acknowledged the two knew each other. Hindustan Times is not naming the woman to protect her identity.
In the clip he released, Singh introduces himself and names the woman, and claims they love each other. He says her parents called her back to Bhopal after they learnt about their relationship. Singh said the police were responsible for the condition of the woman seen in the clip.
“See all the blood. The police have surrounded us and they attacked us with knives and you can see the condition. There is blood all around. Please share this video as much as possible so that the police are brought to justice,” he says in the clip.
Singh also released an affidavit purported to have been signed by the woman in which she says that she knew him for the past two years and that she wanted to marry him and that they would die if they were not allowed. It could not be independently confirmed whether the woman signed the letter on her own. The police refused to comment on the affidavit signed on a stamp paper.
Earlier in the day, SP Lodha said the police were trying to negotiate with Singh and asked reporters to move away as Singh was becoming nervous. The police were seen communicating with Singh and sending him milk, clothes and other necessities though a bucket tied with a rope.