VARANASI: The police, on Thursday, arrested 26 persons after a sub-inspector and three constables were made hostage and thrashed by a group of villagers in Kanhaisarai Chowk village of Lohta police station area on Wednesday.

The S-I and constables had raided a house in the village for interrogation in the case of a minor girl's kidnapping. The policemen were rescued after three hours followed by arrest of 26 persons in a massive operation of the police and PAC led by SP (rural) Amit Kumar till late night on Thursday. SSP Anand Kulkarni suspended inspector Lohta Ram Kumar for laxity.

A minor girl of Ghamaria village had eloped with one Shahid of Aurangabad a few weeks back. Her father had lodged a named FIR. During police investigation it came to light that Shahid was in regular contact with a friend of Ghamariya area. SI Bhupendra Singh and constables Manager Chauhan, Pawan and Rahul Prasad reached his house where they were told that the youth had gone to visit his maternal grandfather Haji Yasin. The police, along with the girl's family members, reached Yasin's residence in civil dress.

When the police asked Yasin and his family to produce the youth they caught the trio while the girl's family fled. Several villagers gathered at Yasin's residence and after thrashing the policemen they tied them with poles.

Later, inspector Lohta sent some policemen at the incident site to rescue the SI and others. Later, on the directives of the SSP, SP (rural) Amit Kumar collected policemen from 10 police station, PAC and commandos of anti-terror squad and raided Kanhaisarai Chowk village in the evening to nab the miscreants who made the SI and constables hostage and thrashed them. After identifying the persons involved through video clips, the police arrested 26 persons till late Wednesday night.