Patna: An engineer employed with the railways has claimed he was kidnapped and forced to marry a woman in Vaishali district late on Saturday night, while the bride's family has claimed the groom's family wanted to walk out of the marriage over dowry.

Durga Sharan, posted in the Samastipur railway divisional office as a senior section officer, said he was kidnapped by 10 people in an SUV and two motorbikes while he was riding a motorcycle to his uncle's house in Vaishali district.

The abductors, Durga said, intercepted him near Jandaha power grid and forced him to board the SUV at gunpoint. He was taken to Judawanpur West village across the Ganga, around 20km north of Patna, where he was allegedly thrashed and forced to marry Priyanka Kumari, 30.

The bride's father, Arvind Rai, is a businessman.

The bride, however, alleged that Durga's family had demanded Rs 50 lakh as dowry. She claimed that she came to know Durga through her elder sister's husband, Anil Singh, a neighbour of Durga, when she lived at Musallahpur in Patna about a year ago.

"I was in touch with Durga through Facebook the past year. Durga had given consent to the marriage. However, his family suddenly began demanding a huge dowry, which my father denied. This made the groom's family change their stand," she told officers at Judawanpur police station.

Durga denied he knew the bride's family. "They kidnapped me at gunpoint and forced me to marry a woman I had never seen or met," Durga claimed.

He said his mother and maternal uncle had informed the Jandaha police about his abduction on Saturday evening.

Judawanpur police assistant sub-inspector Ajab Lal said on Sunday that a police team reached Judawanpur West around 7am and rescued Durga. Lal said that the Judawanpur police handed over both the groom and the bride to the Jandaha police station officials as an abduction case had been lodged there.

Jandaha police station house officer (SHO) Om Prakash said the groom and the bride will be produced in court, and the police will act on the court's directive.

Official data released by the state crime record bureau revealed that 3,405 persons were abducted for marriage in Bihar in 2017. "The practice of pakarua vivah is very old in Patna, Vaishali, Begusarai and Lakhisarai districts of the state," said Pramod Kumar, a Muzaffarpur-based social activist.

In January this year, a 29-year-old engineer with Bokaro Steel City Plant, Vinod Kumar, was forced to marry a woman at gunpoint - and after a thrashing - in Pandarak police station area in Patna district. A video showing the pakarua vivah had gone viral on social networks.

The bride's relatives were heard in the video telling Vinod: "We are only performing your wedding and not hanging you."