The police in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad on Friday arrested a Muslim man on charges of abducting his Hindu wife, despite the woman saying in a video two days earlier that she left home of her own will.

The man, Akbar Khan, and the woman, Sonika Chauhan, got married in August 2022. They had, however, not been living together as Chauhan’s family objected to their relationship. The couple had eloped on May 24, after which local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders stepped in to help the Chauhans separate the couple and bring Sonika back to her family.

Khan was arrested for the same offence on May 25, but was released on bail on June 8. Scroll had reported on the couple’s ordeal at the time. A mob that claimed that the couple’s marriage was a case of “love jihad” had vandalised their businesses on May 26.

Love jihad is a Hindutva conspiracy theory that holds that Muslim men pose as Hindus to trick Hindu women into relationships with the aim of converting them to Islam.

Also read: How the lives of a married couple from Ghaziabad were upended by BJP leader’s ‘love jihad’ claims

In the early hours of July 30, the couple managed to run away again, reported The Indian Express. A member of Khan’s family, who requested not to be identified, told Scroll that they went to Prayagraj to seek protection from the Allahabad High Court.

On the same day, the Ghaziabad Police filed a new case against Khan and four others under provisions related to abduction, using poisonous substances to cause hurt, theft and criminal intimidation. The case was filed based on a complaint by Sonika’s father Laxman Singh Chauhan.

The complainant alleged that Khan had been threatening the family in the days leading up to his daughter’s supposed abduction. He claimed that an intoxicating substance had rendered them unconscious on the night when the couple eloped again. Additionally, he claimed that Rs 50,000 and some jewellery were also missing from their home since then.

However, soon after the couple ran away on July 30, Sonika released a video declaring that she had left her home on her own because her family was “mentally and physically torturing” her. She said that for the past two months, her parents and local BJP leaders had been forcing her to testify against Khan.

Nevertheless, the police on Thursday brought the couple back to Ghaziabad. Khan’s family claimed that the police acted so swiftly because of political pressure.

However, Indirapuram Assistant Commissioner of Police Abhishek Srivastava denied the allegations of political pressure. “We are investigating the case based on the complaint by the woman’s father,” he said. “Her statement will be duly recorded.”

On Friday, the police arrested Khan, his brother Maksad and their neighbour Lalit Ayyar, according to Ravendra Gautam, station house officer of the Indirapuram police station. Gautam said that the police are investigating whether Sonika was “under pressure” to record the July 30 video.

“She is with her family now,” he added. “Her statement will be recorded in court whenever she is comfortable.”