The Alamganj police are groping in the dark over the whereabouts of a Chhapra-based minor girl allegedly abducted late on Tuesday night from Biscomaun Colony in the Patna City area.

The police conducted intensive raids in Vaishali and Saran districts on Wednesday to trace the girl (around 15), but in vain. Two cousins of the victim have been detained for interrogation as the police suspected the abduction to be fallout of an affair.

The victim, a resident of Saran district, had come to Patna with her two relatives to seek medical advice. On her way back home on Tuesday night, she was abducted.

Some Bolero-borne youths overtook the motorcycle she was travelling on and forcibly stopped it. Thereafter, they pushed the girl into the four-wheeler and sped off after injuring the victim’s cousin and the uncle with knives as they protested.

A large number of people gathered on the spot soon after the incident and rushed the injured duo to Nalanda Medical College and Hospital for treatment. Their condition was stable on Wednesday.

The prime accused in the case, Tuddu, allegedly had an affair with the abducted girl, his neighbour at the Lal Bazaar locality of Chhapra town.

An investigation officer said the girl was married off to one Dipak five years ago at the age of 10 but stayed with her parents. Tuddu was also married, said the officer.

Algamganj police station house officer B.K. Singh said intensive search had been launched in the neighbouring districts of Patna to recover the girl.

“Separate teams carried out raids on different hideouts of the suspects in Vaishali and Saran districts,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Amrit Raj said the prime suspect in the case had been identified and efforts were on to recover the girl. The girl’s cousin named Tuddu as an accused in an FIR lodged with Alamganj police station, he said.

The SSP said separate teams had been formed to crack the case. “After the matter came to the notice of the police, teams were dispatched to Vaishali and Saran districts,” he said, adding that the families of both the girl and the accused knew each other well.

A source in the police said the girl eloped from her parents’ house a day earlier fearing that she would be sent to her in-laws’ house in a couple of days.

“We are gathering evidence to substantiate our claim. We will crack the case soon,” the officer said.

The kidnapping of the girl from the busy area sent chill down the spine of the citizens of the capital, already bothered over the deteriorating law and order situation in the city over the past few months.