Bhubaneswar/ Balasore, July 29: An engineering dropout and an undergraduate student from Bhubaneswar were nabbed while they were escaping to Jamshedpur after threatening and trying to extort money from a businessman in Balasore on Friday night.

Police said they had also demanded Rs 10 lakh from a businessman in Patia. Two magazines and six live cartridges were seized from them.

Bhubaneswar police is planning to bring the two, Kumar Janmejaya, 27, and Srikanta Samanta, 23, arrested by Balasore Town police yesterday, on remand.

“They were booked under the Arms Act. During interrogation, we came to know that both have close links with a notorious criminal, Sk Sahil of Kendrapara district, who is an associate of gangster Sk Hyder,” said inspector in charge of Town police station Manas Deo.

Though the police did not seize any pistol from the duo, it is believed that Sahil had taken it from them.

The police said Janmejaya, who lived in an apartment at Chandrasekharpur, was an engineering dropout and ran a fast food kiosk at Patia.

On the other hand, Samanta, a resident of Kanan Vihar, was in his final-year of a bachelor of Arts course at a private college in Patia.

Deputy superintendent of police (crime) of Balasore Nagendra Nayak said both the youths and Sahil had been on the run after committing a crime in Bhubaneswar.