Patna: Seven criminals held hostage a jeweller and his family in Samastipur, 90km from here, early on Sunday morning and robbed them of cash and valuables worth Rs 25 lakh.

Jewellery wholesaler Shravan Kumar Soni and his family were held in the Barah Patthar house in an upscale area of Samastipur for around two hours.

The dacoity at the house - around 300m from the superintendent of police (SP)'s residence - comes as a challenge to the police just four days after chief minister Nitish Kumar reviewed the law and order situation in the state.

The criminals robbed the family of cash, gold and silver jewellery.

Angered over the incident, local residents blocked the Samastipur-Patna road and protested against the rising crime graph. They also demanded that the criminals be immediately arrested and the SP visited the spot.

An FIR has been lodged according to the statement given by Soni. Seven persons, he said, barged into the house around 6.30am. They rounded up seven family members, assaulted anyone who resisted, tied them up and confined them in a bathroom.

The criminals went through the entire house and collected whatever valuables they could lay their hands on. Soni contacted the police only after the criminals left and he managed to free himself.

People in the area said the dacoits had come in an SUV, which they had parked 50m from the house. After the robbery, eyewitnesses said, the criminals walked out leisurely to the vehicle and escaped.

Samastipur SP Deepak Ranjan said: "Yes, there has been an incident near the Barah Patthar area. We have identified the people involved and raids are being conducted to nab them."

He added that the criminals involved are not locals and hoped they would be arrested by Monday.

Bike-lifters' gang

Bariarpur police on Sunday busted a gang of bike-lifters and recovered two stolen motorbikes from Bariarpur police station area.

The police also arrested a member of the gang, Karmveer Kumar, a resident of Manigram Totaha village under Muffasil police station. The gang had stolen three motorcycles from the Bariarpur and Muffasil police station areas in a fortnight.