A gang of 15 armed robbers busted the ground floor grille of a five-storey building in sector-4 of Uttara around 2:00am and entered the flat of engineer Abdul Haq on the first floor. They assaulted the family members and looted gold ornaments weighing five tolas and Tk 5,000 in cash, police said.

Shocked by the incident, Haq's mother-in-law Anwara Begum, 78, died of cardiac arrest.

The robbers then split into two groups. One group took one of Haq's family members hostage at gunpoint and went to tenant engineer Bakhtiar's flat on the second floor while the other group stayed inside Haq's flat.

The robbers took away about nine tolas of gold ornaments and $1,700 in cash from Bakhtiar's flat. They also severely beat up Bakhtiar's son Wasim.

In another incident, a group of robbers shot a housewife at Pallabi.

Police said seven robbers entered a ground floor flat of a five-storey building on Road-6, Section-12 of Pallabi around 12:30pm. The robbers made off with cash and gold ornaments from the flat. They shot at Irene Begum, 25, as she yelled out during the robbery.

Irene was admitted to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital with bullet injury in her right hand.