Two separate incidents of robbery at the residences of two businessmen at Sitaramdera and Kadma thana area took place on Monday afternoon.

The first incident took place at the residence of Ashok Sharma, owner of Packers and Movers, a packaging-cum-transport company, at Line No 5 in Bhalubalsa under Sitaramdera thana at about 12.30 pm.

According to members of Sharma’s family, two young men carrying haversacks came and introduced themselves as surveyors. As his wife let them in, the duo entered and bolted the door. Subsequently, one of them took out something which looked like a bomb and threatened them not to shout. Sharma's wife and children were forced into a room, while the men started searching for valuables and cash.

In the meantime, the Sharmas’ domestic help arrived and pressed the doorbell. She found two strangers inside after the door was answered, and heard cries from inside. She immediately screamed for help. Following this, some neighbours rushed to the fifth floor where the Sharmas live, As they arrived, the men started to flee. One of them managed to escape, but the other was caught.

He was handed over to the police and was taken under custody. The police seized a bag from the youth, who revealed his name as Sonu Kumar, a resident of Jehanabad district of Bihar. On searching the bag, the police found 10 bomb-like objects.

"We are verifying the name and addresses of the criminals, including the one who is now under our custody. We are also trying to detect whether the things that we recovered from the bag were bombs," Anjani Kumar, OC, Sitaramdera thana, told The Telegraph Online.

A police man in front of BC Das' house at Uliyan in Kadma on Monday. Animesh Sengupta eom

In the other incident, four young men arrived at the house of BC Das on Swarna Path at Uliyan, under Kadma thana, at about 2 pm. As his brother Manik Das runs a ration shop at Kadma market, one of the men said they wanted to buy rice. As Manik opened the door, the four barged into the house and took out a pistol each.

They made the entire family go into a room on gunpoint and took the keys to their cupboard . They gathered cash and gold ornaments worth over Rs five lakh and fled the scene.

The family then informed police about the incident. Police have sealed all exit points of the city and are trying to nab the criminals.

"Four armed men robbed a house at Uliyan in Kadma. We are trying to follow through and are hopeful that the criminals will be nabbed soon," city SP Subhash Chandra Jat told The Telegraph Online.