Patna: Mambo, a member of the police dog squad, helped Patna police crack Tuesday morning's incident in which four armed robbers entered planning and development under-secretary Rajeev Kumar's house, A/4 at R-Block road number 2, looted and shot him dead.

The robbers had entered the house with the intention of committing loot but shot Rajeev dead when he resisted the bid. Patna police had no leads in the incident as there were no CCTV cameras installed in the area.

Having no clues with which to identify the criminals, they sought the help of the dog squad. Mambo, who is with Patna police's dog squad for the past few years, came to the police's rescue. The sniffer dog led the police to the doors of the killers, in a slum area half a kilometre from the crime scene.

"The police recovered a pair of slippersbelonging to one of the criminals from the spot," Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj said. "We took the help of a sniffer dog. The dog led us to a nearby slum."

Mambo in tow, the police moved to other places near the secretariat to locate the criminals.

Finally, Mambo identified the killers from a slum near the secretariat area. The police caught slum residents Shravan Kumar and Sunny.

"The two criminals and two others had gone to Rajeev Kumar's house with an attempt to loot, however, when he resisted he was shot dead," Patna SSP, Manu Maharaaj said. The two other criminals, Rahul and Krishna, are also residents of the slum area.

After robbing Rs 40,000 and jewellery from Rajeev's house, the criminals went to Bihia Bazar in Ara district to sell the looted jewellery. After interrogating Shravan and Sunny, the police arrested Baikunth, ajeweller whom they had sold the jewellery to.

The arrested criminals and the jeweller, who received the looted items, have been booked under sections 302 (murder) and 120 (B) conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code. The criminals had entered Rajeev's house when he was with his wife and daughter.

Police sources said the criminals had done a recee of Rajeev's's house and had information that he lived alone with his wife and minor daughter.

As the crime took place in a protected area housing quarters of government officials, MLAs and even some ministers, Patna police gave instructions to crack the case as soon as possible.

Police have already suspended the SHO of Sachivalya police station, Rakesh Kumar Bhaskar, sub-inspector Anant Kumar and seven personnel of the police patrolling squad.