Patna: Five children - four girls and a boy - were abducted from Chandauti police station area in Gaya district, around 110km south of Patna, on Thursday. The case came to light when two of the kidnapped kids managed to escape and inform their parents.

The children, residents of Churi village, were going to attend coaching classes at Jamune village on foot around 3pm when two persons forced them into a car on the Gaya-Tekari road.

Two of the girls managed to escape from the men's clutches and reached their village and narrated the incident.

The parents of three of the abducted children, all Class X students, later lodged a kidnapping case with the Chandauti police station.

Chandauti police station house officer (SHO) Chandrabhanu said three students - Priyanka Kumari, Sita Kumari and Rakesh Kumar - were still missing.

The police have recorded the statements of the two girls who managed to flee from the kidnappers.

Gaya senior superintendent of police (SSP) Garima Malik said the police launched a vehicle checking drive on the Gaya-Tekari road to nab the kidnappers and rescue the children.

The raids were conducted on the basis of information provided by the two girls who escaped.

An investigating officer said Sanjay Prasad, Baliram Yadav and Raju Yadav, fathers of the kidnapped girls and the boy, told the police they had not noticed anything untoward in the behaviour of their wards.

They did not rule out involvement of family acquaintances in the incident.

Gaya city deputy superintendent of police Alok Kumar on Friday visited Churi village and inquired about the incident. The police have so far failed to make any breakthrough in the case.

Last week, a criminal gang abducted businessman Vinod Kumar Sah, 50, from Gopalpur village on Dobhi-Sherghati road when he was returning home from his business establishment on his motorcycle. He was released on Dobhi-Chatra road in Gaya district, reportedly after the family coughed up Rs 5 lakh as ransom.