A Ranchi jeweller was stabbed and injured at his office by two unidentified men on Friday afternoon, with police still groping in the dark on the motive behind the attack.

Victim Manoj Jaiswal (45) has been admitted to Santevita Hospital with neck wounds and his condition is said to be critical. While a couple of witnesses and the forensic team may help police zero in on the assailants, they will still have to bank on the jeweller's statement to nail the reason behind why he was targeted.

According to what witnesses told police, the attack took place in a building on Old HB Road around 1.30pm. The two men - one thin and fair while the other stout and dark - were aged around 35 years. They apparently looked pretty unnerved when they came out after stabbing Jaiswal. The duo reportedly escaped towards Old Jail Road in an auto-rickshaw and on a bike after discarding their blood-soaked shirts in Line Tank pond.

The building housing Jaiswal's office is known as Kula Devi Nivas. Owner Ramesh Prasad, who lives in the same building, was the first to inform police.

"There are around eight shops on the ground floor, one of which the small-time jeweller rented from us nine years ago. Since we plan on demolition, most shopkeepers have vacated the building. Jaiswal was also supposed to leave soon," Prasad said, adding that he was clueless why the jeweller was attacked.

Police sources said Jaiswal, a native of Aurangabad district in Bihar, lived in Nilanchal Compound at Piska More in the capital. He had recently rented another shop at Upper Bazaar.

City DSP Sambhu Singh said the victim was too critical to record his statement. "Besides knife wounds on the neck, there are injuries on his hands, which are signs of struggle to escape his attackers. Nobody witnessed the crime and we have pressed forensic experts to give us a lead. The motive is not clear. An FIR will be lodged," Singh added.

One of the witnesses who saw the two men escaping through a back door said they were screaming at each other. "I saw the trousers of one soaked in blood. I believe, their shirts were soiled too because they dumped the same in Line Tank Talab. One fled in an auto and another rode pillion on a bike," said the witness.

Jaiswal's brother-in-law Vikram Malhotra said they were shocked. "Manoj (the victim) is an absolute gentleman and keeps a very low profile. He is only a small-time businessman who deals in silver. He doesn't keep huge stocks at his office either. Why was he attacked?"