Patna: Armed robbers broke into the house of a retired govt employee at Abhyodaya Nagar on Ghurdaur Road under Rajiv Nagar police station area in the state capital on early Sunday morning. The miscreants held the family members hostage at gunpoint and decamped with cash, jewellery, and other valuables worth Rs 20 lakh. According to the police, the incident occurred around 2.30am when six masked men broke the grill of the hall from the back of the house and entered it. They held the house owner, Ramavtar Singh (75), and his wife, Kamla Kumari (67), hostage at gunpoint. They searched the house for more than 30 minutes and took around Rs 6 lakh in cash and jewellery worth Rs 14 lakh.Nitish Chandra Dhariya, sub-divisional police officer II (law and order), Patna, said the robbery was reported by the house owner’s wife. “She told the police that the miscreants demanded the money from the sale of her land by threatening her with a pistol. She informed them that she didn’t have the money, after which the criminals stole some jewellery and approximately Rs 6 lakh in cash from the almirah before fleeing,” the SDPO said.“Upon investigation, it was revealed that she sold a piece of land for around Rs 85 lakh, intending to split the money between her two daughters. She already received an advance of Rs 12 lakh, of which she gave Rs 6 lakh to one daughter and kept the remaining amount at home for the another daughter. The crime spot has been inspected by a dog squad and forensic teams. Further actions are being taken with both human and technical assistance in this case,” Dhariya said.Singh retired from the post of accountant in the irrigation department. His wife, Kamla, was a teacher. The victim said she was sleeping on the ground floor with her husband when six robbers wearing vests and half pants entered their room. “My son and daughter-in-law were sleeping on the upper floor. Criminals said that they kept my son hostage on the first floor and if I made any noise, they will kill him,” she said.Kamla further added: “The robbers kept asking me for the money I got after selling the land. They said that my neighbour told them that I sold a land worth Rs 1 crore. They searched the room, and after taking away all the valuables, they left at around 3am.”