Patna: A gang of armed dacoits raided a house in Nawada district during the wee hours of Monday, held an elderly couple captive and looted cash, ornaments and valuables worth at least Rs 17 lakh.

The crime, which happened at the house of Vijay Kumar Singh and his wife (the couple are in their sixties) at Gonahwa Dih village under the Town police station in the district, has sent another reminder to the state government about deteriorating law and order situation across the state and a wake-up action call to normalise the situation.

"As per information, a gang of around 10-12 armed persons barged into the house of an elderly couple between 2am and 3am on Monday and looted cash, gold and silver ornaments and other valuables worth lakhs of rupees," Nawada SP Hari Prasath S. said.

Prasath added that the police got information about the incident later in the morning and reached there. An FIR has been lodged. Special Task Force (STF) and Forensic Science Lab (FSL) teams were also sent to investigate the incident. Efforts are on to trace the gang involved in the crime and nab them.

The elderly couple are considered well-off farmers. They have three sons, one of which lives in another house nearby while the other two are working outside the state. Police said the couple were held captive at gunpoint by the criminals and were beaten up badly with pistol butts when they tried to raise an alarm.

Sources said the dacoits took away several gold ornaments, around 1.25kg silver and over Rs 2 lakh cash with them, taking the total value of looted valuables to Rs 17 lakh.

This is the second incident of dacoity in Nawada district in the last few months.

Previously, a gang had committed dacoity in a village under Mescore police station area here. However, the police solved the case and arrested the gang members from neighbouring Gaya district and recovered the looted valuables.