Patna, March 21: Begusarai residents blocked National Highway 31 this morning for over five hours demanding the arrest of criminals involved in twin robberies in the town last night, causing the death of a minor boy and injury to eight others.

The heartless criminals threw the minor down from the top floor of a two-storeyed building when he raised an alarm.

The armed robbers struck at two houses separated by one-and-a-half kilometres at an interval of five hours and decamped with cash and valuable worth over Rs 15 lakh. They first raided the house of an engineer at Mohammadpur around 8.30pm. The engineer, Rajesh Mahto, away in Rajasthan, his wife and two sons were at home. When the younger son, 10-year-old Rhitik, raised an alarm, the robbers threw him down from the top floor of the building. He died. His mother, Tapaswi Devi, and brother, Roshan Kumar, were also assaulted. The criminals fled with assets worth Rs 5 lakh.

Their next target was the Lohia Nagar house of businessman Anil Prasad Singh. After beating his family members, they fled around 1.30am with cash and valuables worth Rs 10 lakh.

When the residents learnt about the robberies, they took out a procession and blocked the NH-31 this morning. The traffic on the road remained paralysed for over five hours. The blockade was lifted and the traffic was restored after the intervention of senior police officers.

Begusarai Sadar deputy superintendent of police Vivekanand said a special police team had been constituted to arrest the criminals.

“Raids are on to apprehend the robbers. Patrolling at night has also been intensified,” he added.

Station house officer of Town police station Umkant said no external injury had been found on the body of Rhitik. “It is being ascertained if he accidentally fell from the building or was pushed by the robbers,” he told The Telegraph over phone from Begusarai, around 130km from here.

A visibly upset Tapaswi Devi said the criminals threw Rhitik from the top floor of the building when he raised an alarm. “My plea to not to cause harm to my children fell on deaf ears. They snatched my son from me forever,” she said.

The same gang raided the house of Singh after midnight. They assaulted six members of the house and escaped with valuables. Singh’s daughter and son in-law were also beaten up.