Cuttack, June 6: Police today detained four persons in connection with the robbery that took place at the residence of Justice P.K. Mohanty, a retired judge of Orissa High Court, about a week ago.

Police commissioner R.P. Sharma said the detained criminals were being thoroughly interrogated.

"We are very much on the job and very close to cracking the case," said Sharma, adding that the detained criminals were all from the state.

He said the criminals were also involved in a number of other crimes. They were detained on the basis of forensic and technical evidence collected from the spot. Further probe is still on.

A senior police official said that over 30 officers had been carrying out the probe into the incident.

A manhunt has also been launched to nab other members of the gang.

Around eight armed criminals had barged into the house of P.K. Mohanty at CDA, Sector 11 on May 30. They tied up the judge and two of his family members and decamped with Rs 13 lakh cash and other gold ornaments.

Earlier, it was suspected that an inter-state criminal gang might be involved in the sensational robbery as the goons were talking in Hindi and Telugu.

Suspecting the involvement of some insiders, the cops had also conducted a lie-detection test of Santosh Panigrahy, the domestic help working at the residence of the retired judge.

The robbery had raised question marks on the lack of security and patrolling measures in the city.

Various political parties, including the Congress and the BJP, had staged demonstrations against the failure of Odisha police and the state government over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

On Thursday, Orissa High Court had directed the state government to form a committee, headed by chief secretary Gokul Chandra Pati, to monitor the law and order situation in the state.

Special secretary Lalit Das said that according to the high court direction, a committee had been formed under the chairmanship of the chief secretary.

It has also been decided that the police would put up temporary barricades at all entry and exit points in cities and towns from 10pm to 7am.

Das said a panel would be formed under the chairmanship of the director-general of police to oversee the transfer of senior police officials as well.

The DGP would also act in co-ordination with the home department.