Shotgun wedding: Jilted lover kidnaps ex at gunpoint during ceremony in India

A woman in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh kidnapped her former lover at gunpoint and bundled him into a car just moments before he was due to be wed.

The unnamed woman reportedly burst into the wedding venue accompanied by three armed men and bundled her ex-boyfriend Ashok Yadav into a waiting SUV before he could say his vows on Monday night.

"The armed men took Ashok at gunpoint and threatened him to accompany them. After bundling him on the rear seat of a car, they sped away," the Times of India quotes a police official as saying.

It’s reported Yadav met the woman while the pair were working at a medical clinic in the town of Banda. They dated for a while and had even agreed to marry before Yadav began avoiding her when his parents arranged a marriage to another woman in a neighboring town.

The spurned woman allegedly became furious when her beloved cut contact with her and hatched the plan for revenge.

All might not be as it seems, however.

Investigating police believe that the kidnapping was staged and are trying to locate the pair of star-crossed lovers.

"How can a woman kidnap a grown man in front of so many people? Nobody tried to stop them or save the groom. In reality, the man willingly went away with the girl," police told the Times of India.

Police have arrested Yadav’s brother, as well as a number of photographers, in connection with the case.