Police rescue 12 bar girls in Bangalore outskirts

Twelve bar girls abducted by an armed gang were rescued by police who opened fire injuring two of the gangsters at Bagalur in Bangalore's outskirts in the early hours today.

Three cops also sustained injuries when the six-member gang attacked them, police said.

Motorcycle-borne gangsters intercepted the van in which the girls were returning home around 11.30pm yesterday from a hotel in Koramangala where they work, inspector Nagaraj told PTI here, adding the gangsters dragged out the van driver and drove it away.

The hotel owner was later contacted and an unspecified amount of ransom was demanded for the return of the girls. A police team chased the van on a tip-off, Nagaraj said.     

The gangsters, however, attacked them with clubs and other weapons and injured him and two constables, he said.

Police opened fire in self defence, injuring two of the abductors Wasim and Syed while their associate Innayat was injured when a policeman ducked while being attacked by a gang member.

All the injured have been admitted to Victoria Hospital for treatment and the six gangsters have been arrested, he said.