Gaya: Eight persons facing trial on abduction charges were on Tuesday held guilty of committing the offence.

General physician Pankaj Gupta and his wife, Shobhra, were abducted at gunpoint from the Dobhi-Gaya intersection on April 30, 2015.

Gaya additional district and sessions judge Sachidanand Singh held inter-state kidnapping gang leader Ajay Singh and seven of his associates guilty under sections 364A, 395 and 412 of the IPC. The offence is punishable with life imprisonment.

Additional public prosecutor Yoganand Ambastha said he will pray for maximum punishment for the guilty, as they committed a heinous offence. The judge will decide the quantum of punishment on February 27.

The guilty are Ajay Singh, Mritunjay Singh, Sunil Singh, Rahul Kumar Soni, Amit Singh, Amit Kumar Singh, Anil Singh and Vijay Singh. Though operating at the internal-state level, all the gang members are from Aurangabad and Rohtas districts of the state. Kingpin Ajay Singh is a resident of Rafiganj in Aurangabad.

Defence lawyer Satya Narain Singh said he will decide on the next course of action after studying the detailed judgment. He is yet to get a copy of the court order, said the defence lawyer.

Dr Gupta and Shobhra were on their way back from Giridih in Jharkhand in their new Audi car when they were abducted by armed criminals from GT Road in broad daylight. They had gone to Giridih to attend a family function.

The kidnappers drove the captive couple in their own car. Shobhra owns a high-end branded garments showroom in the Swarajpuri Road commercial centre of the town. The couple managed to reach home five days later on May 5, 2015. Their captors kept them in an apartment in Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow.

Ajay Singh and his associates were arrested from Lucknow and the Audi was recovered from their possession on the day the couple reached home.