Bhubaneswar, March 17: City police have detained two youths today suspecting their involvement in a failed chain-snatching bid in the busy Master Canteen area last night.

Police constable Sukhala Murmu suffered a bullet injury to his left leg as suspected chain-snatchers fired at him. The victim’s husband, Debabrata Dhir, also suffered injuries to the head, hand and chest when he was attacked with a dagger. Murmu is undergoing treatment at a private hospital at Acharya Vihar while Dhir has been admitted to another hospital at Saheed Nagar.

The condition of both of them has been reported to be stable. Murmu was reportedly trying to catch the goons while they were on a run after attacking Dhir.

The incident, which took place near a police outpost, has created panic among residents of the capital. There has lately been huge police deployment on Mahatma Gandhi Marg leading to Master Canteen Square because of the ongoing Assembly session.

Following the incident, the police have sealed all exit points from the city.

“We have formed squads and raids are going on at several places in and outside the city. The goons have been identified and they will be arrested soon,” said deputy police commissioner Nitinjeet Singh.

The victim’s husband, Dhir, said he went to a kid’s cycle showroom in Master Canteen around 9.30 last night parking his car near a jewellery shop. After about half an hour, he came out with a cycle. While he was arranging the seats in his car, his wife Rinki was holding the cycle and standing near the car.

“I heard my wife shouting in panic. When I looked at her, I saw a heavily-built man trying to snatch her gold chain while pointing a dagger at her head. When I tried to stop him, he caught my necklace and attacked me with the dagger,” said Dhir. As a policeman from the nearby outpost rushed to the spot, the chain snatcher fled on his motorcycle on which two other persons were also seated.

The constable tried to catch the motorcycle when two youths came to the spot on another motorcycle and fired two shots, one in the air and one at his leg. Soon after, they also fled the spot.

“I saw a snatcher attacking the man. Seeing me, he rushed towards his motorcycle. When I caught him and tried to stop them, a bullet hit my leg. I saw two youths on another bike fleeing from the spot after firing,” said constable Murmu, who was posted there as part of a patrolling team. A police control room van rushed Murmu to hospital while Dhir managed to drive to a hospital.

Deputy police commissioner Singh said that the havildar’s bravery foiled the snatching bid. The police are also checking the closed-circuit television camera footages of the nearby shops to identify the goons.

Following the incident, senior police officers showed photographs of several known criminals to the injured constable and the builder.

Sources said the police detained two persons after Murmu and Dhir identified two persons from the photographs. The identified criminals are believed to be from Cuttack and they were mainly involved in various incidents of loot on NH-5.