A picture of the victim bound and gagged, allegedly sent by the accused to the victim’s family. Photo: Special arrangement.

By Alishan Jafri / The Wire

On April 25, one Syeda Khatun, alias Soni (24), was allegedly abducted by Birendra Kumar and his aides from Etwa in Uttar Pradesh’s Siddharthnagar, when she had gone to the fields around her home during Ramzan Sehri.

At around 6 am, the accused allegedly called the family and threatened them against lodging a first information report (FIR) and told them to not inform the villagers about the incident. Two days later, the woman reportedly sent messages in Urdu on Messenger from the accused’s account informing the family about her whereabouts in order for them to save her.

After this, the Messenger account sent multiple pictures of Khatun tied up and gagged. The family suspects that she was caught and tortured after the messages were sent.

The accused also sent a picture of Khatun’s fractured leg. The identity of the woman in the picture was confirmed by the family.

Last week, Khatun allegedly called her elder brother, Nafees, asking to be rescued. “I am in Punjab,” she cried profusely as the phone lost connection, her younger brother, Nasim, told The Wire.

This article first appeared on thewire.in