Police on Monday rescued a 13-year-old girl kidnapped from Dhamdaha in the district, around 375km northeast of Patna, and arrested her private tutor and four others.

The girl was rescued from the Rupauli in the district when the kidnappers were on their way to Nepal in an SUV. The five arrested included her private tutor, Gunjan Kumar.

Gunjan (21) used to give tuitions to the girl for the past four years. His four other accomplices have been identified as Subodh Kumar Ram, Lalan Rishidev, Mithu Kumar Ram and Dipak Kumar. All of them are residents of Thakur Bajit Tola under the jurisdiction of Rupauli police station.

Araria superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande , who is also in-charge of Purnea, told The Telegraph: “After the girl’s uncle lodged an FIR, all the police stations of the district were alerted. The Rupauli police intercepted the SUV (BR11M0935), which had a press sticker on it. We recovered the girl on Monday.”

Before being sent to jail, Gunjan claimed that he was in love with the girl. He claimed that they were about to get married with the girl’s consent.