At least three persons were injured by gunshots while Tk 30 lakh in cash and valuables worth Tk 10 lakh were looted in separate incidents of robbery yesterday in the capital.

The injured are Abul Khayer, 48, owner of a wholesale grocery shop on Shaheed Faruque Road near Jatrabari intersection, his nephew Arshad Hossain, 28, and Makbul Hossain, 50, an employee of the shop.

They were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital with bullet wounds and recovering there, hospital sources said.

Witness Mohammad Alam, another staff at the shop, said, "Around 2:15pm, four youths posing as customers showed up on the shop door and soon another four entered the shop and pulled out their firearms."

The gang held hostage all of the eight staff at gunpoint and started grabbing the money from the cash box.

Arshad said there was around Tk 25 lakh in the cashbox to be deposited to the Jatrabari branch of National Bank after lunch break at 3:00pm. And they had another Tk 5 lakh from their sales.

The robbers shot several rounds indiscriminately injuring the three, exploded a few handmade bombs and decamped, said the victims at DCMH.

Locals said they saw a covered van standing in front of the trading centre obstructing its view and therefore they could not see what was happening inside the shop at the moment.

The muggers firing shots and exploding bombs left the scene by the vehicle, they added.

Officer-in-Charge (OC) Moniruzzaman of Jatrabari Police Station said the robbers exploded three handmade bombs but failed to ascertain how many rounds were fired.

Meanwhile, another robbery took place at Basila in the city's Hazaribagh area early yesterday.

Police said some eight to ten robbers broke in the back door of a two-storey building in the area around 3:30am and took away 36 tolas of gold, four sets of mobile phone, Tk 1.39 lakh and clothes. The house belongs to engineer Mir Monwar Ali.

Selina Akhter, wife of Monwar, told reporters that robbers wielding sharp weapons held hostage the members living on the ground and first floors.

OC Mohammad Enamul Haque of Hazaribagh Police Station told The Daily Star that they had arrested three construction workers -- Sabuz, Masud and Liton -- who worked at the house a few days ago.

The OC quoted Selina as saying the three had been wearing masks made of window curtain cloth of the house.

When police brought the detained workers to Selina, she could identify them by their physical features.

In interrogation, the robbers admitted their involvement in the robbery and gave the names of their associates, the OC said.

OC Enamul hopes they will be able to arrest the rest of the gang members and recover the goods soon.

Selina filed a case with the police station in this connection yesterday.