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Dacoits on Thursday morning waylaid a bus in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve in Bihar, looted the passengers and took ten of them hostage, of which five were later released.
The reserve falls West Champaran district and lies on the tri-junction of Bihar-Nepal-Uttar Pradesh.
The whereabouts of the others is not yet known. A police party is combing the area.
The bus left Valmikinagar town, situated in Bihar close to the Nepal border, at 0315 hours (IST).
According to the passengers, the road was blocked at Chaminia bridge by a timber log. The area is in the midst of a dense forest.
The spot is only 15 kms from Nepal and six kms from Uttar Pradesh.
When the bus halted, about a dozen dacoits boarded the vehicle and looted the passengers. Those who resisted, which included the crew of the bus, were assaulted.
Though the dacoits were stopped by their leader from snatching ornaments from the women, they still managed to loot an estimated Rs 50,000 and took ten passengers with them.
Five of them - Vivekanand Tiwary, Neyaz Ahmed, Ramesh Shah, Mohammad Shabab Ali and Mohammad Jan - were released later in the day.
Four of those still in captivity are Umar Shaikh, Wahid, Majid and Ramayan Tiwary's son.
The bus driver, conductor and cleaner have been hospitalized as they were brutally attacked.
Police suspect the Uma Shankar Kushwaha and Patru Mallah gangs to be behind the abduction.
A similar incident took place in the district in October 1995 when 30 bus passengers had been abducted. They were released in exchange for a huge ransom.
Though combing operations are on, there is every likelihood that the criminals had crossed over to either Nepal or Uttar Pradesh.
Bihar Inspector General of Police (Operations) Neelmani said in Patna that the police had sought the cooperation of their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh.
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