Bhadohi (UP), Mar 18 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Police have launched a search for a man accused of abducting a 15-year-old girl after he allegedly uploaded a photo of them together on social media, with the girl dressed in bridal attire, officials said on Tuesday.

The accused, identified as Akash Singh (20), posted the picture on his Instagram account on Monday, police said.

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Inspector Vishnu Prabha Singh, in charge of Gyanpur police station, said the girl's mother had lodged a complaint on March 16.

The complainant said that her daughter had left home on the evening of March 12, saying that she was going to her aunt's house. However, she neither reached there nor returned home, the officer said.

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Investigation revealed that the girl was in the company of Akash, from Chakva Mahavir Mandir area, he said, adding that based on this information, a case was registered against the accused under Indian Penal Code Section 137(2) (kidnapping).

The accused, who works in Mumbai and had recently returned to Bhadohi, was already under investigation when, on Monday, a photo of him and the girl, both dressed as a married couple surfaced on Instagram, police said.

Inspector Vishnu said the police are interrogating the Akash's family and using surveillance to trace the girl. Efforts are also underway to arrest him at the earliest, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)