Bhubaneswar, June 15 -- https://images.odishatv.in/uploadimage/library/16_9/16_9_0/recent_photo_1749969010.webp

In a startling set of incidents, a group of masked and armed criminals allegedly climbed onto the rooftop of a house, broke in through the rear, and held the family of a businessman hostage at gunpoint, before decamping with cash and valuables extracted in return for the innocent lives.

The late-night robbery took place in Kandabahal village under Sundargarh Sadar police station limits on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday.

Sources reported that the robbers entered the house of a local businessman, identified as Pradip Patel, around midnight.

Brandishing firearms, they physically assaulted family members, tied them u...