Patna: A woman showed exemplary courage on Monday night when she rescued her father and mother from robbers who had held them captive at a residence-cum-nursing home in the Rupaspur area of the city.

Because of her presence of mind, Nikita Jha, a practicing gynaecologist, was also able to help the police nab three abductors. The incident occurred at Niti nursing home, owned by her parents Dr S.K. Jha and Dr Neelam Jha in Rupaspur area. Nikita assists her father at the nursing home.

Explaining the ordeal, Nikita's maternal uncle Pradeep Jha said around midnight on Monday three persons knocked on the main entrance gate of the nursing home seeking emergency help.

On their pleading, Sunny, the compounder who was at the entrance gate, opened the door. But no sooner had he opened the gate than the three who were posing as patients and four others entered the nursing home and headed straight for the second floor.

The nursing home runs on the ground floor and first floor, while Dr Jha and his family members live on the second floor.

"The robbers, armed with weapons, entered my niece's room and asked her to hand over all cash and jewellery," Pradeep said. "After robbing my niece's room, they went to my brother-in-law's room on the same floor. They tried to break the door, which was locked from inside."

Seeing the robbers try to break the door, Nikita urged them not to break the door as their pet dog was inside and could attack them in a ferocious manner. In the process she was able to divert their attention and herself moved to the ground floor. There she locked herself in a patient's room and taking the patient's cellphone called the police.

"My niece first dialled 100, but the number was busy," Pradeep said.

"Later, she found senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj and the Rupaspur police station house officer's number from the Patna police website and called up senior police officers." Soon, a police team from Rupaspur reached the spot and was able to catch three of the robbers. The other four, however, managed to run away with jewellery worth Rs 6 lakh and cash Rs 70,000.

"Because of presence of mind shown by Dr S.K. Jha's daughter, the police were able to catch three of the robbers," SSP Manu Maharaaj said. "The arrested persons have been identified as Sandeep Kumar, Indrajeet Kumar and Prince Kumar. The police recovered a pistol and two cartridges from their possession." The SSP claimed that raids were on to nab the four robbers who fled.