New Delhi, Nov 4 (PTI) Six men have been arrested for allegedly robbing Rs 70 lakh from a man after blocking his scooter near the Gulabi Bagh underpass in north Delhi, throwing chilli powder into his eyes and assaulting him before fleeing with a backpack containing the cash, police said on Wednesday.
The robbery took place on October 24 when the complainant, who worked for a firm in Mayapuri, was returning after collecting Rs 70 lakh from Kucha Mahajani in Chandni Chowk on his scooter, they said.
Around 9.30 pm, when he reached D N Road near the Gulabi Bagh underpass and Roshanara Park, three men riding a motorcycle approached him from behind and blocked his way. They allegedly attacked him and fled with the cash, they said.
A case was registered at Roop Nagar police station on October 26 under sections 309(6) (robbery) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
During the investigation, police examined CCTV footage from Kucha Mahajani, which showed two motorcycles following the complainant's scooter as he left the area after collecting the money. The registration numbers of the motorcycles were established and technical surveillance, along with analysis of call detail records, helped identify the suspects, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Niharika Bhatt said.
Police conducted coordinated raids in Delhi, Rajasthan and Bihar, leading to the arrest of six accused.
Yogesh Kumar (30) was arrested from Bhiwadi in Rajasthan on October 29, and Rs 1.53 lakh was recovered from his possession. The same day, Seetu (31) was arrested from Burari in Delhi, with Rs 11.80 lakh recovered from him, police said.
On October 30, three more accused -- Chandan Kumar (20), Sushobhan alias Sonu (28) and Manish Kumar alias Vicky (21) -- were arrested during raids in Bihar. Police recovered Rs 2.5 lakh from Chandan, Rs 1 lakh from Sushobhan and Rs 5.29 lakh from Manish. A motorcycle was also seized from Chandan, they said.
Based on the information provided by Yogesh and Seetu, police arrested the sixth accused, Mantu Yadav (25), from Ballimaran in Chandni Chowk on October 31. A black bag containing Rs 8.10 lakh was recovered from his residence, along with three debit cards and a PAN card bearing his name.
Investigation revealed that Mantu was allegedly masterminded the robbery. He had earlier worked as a cleaner at a shop in Kucha Mahajani and was familiar with the movement of people carrying large amounts of cash from the wholesale market, police said.
He allegedly brought the other accused together and, with the assistance of an associate identified as Vakil, shared information about the movement of people carrying cash. The group then allegedly followed the complainant after he collected the money and robbed him near the underpass, they said.
During questioning, Mantu disclosed that he had deposited Rs 3.01 lakh from his alleged share of the robbed money into different bank accounts, including those of his mother and sister. Police are verifying the transactions through bank records.
Of the six arrested accused, Seetu has six previous involvements in robbery cases, while the others have no criminal antecedents mentioned in the police release.
Police are also verifying the details of two other suspects, Pawan and Vakil, and efforts are underway to apprehend them. Further investigation is in progress.
