The two agents told police they had collected Rs 38 lakh in all from various shopkeepers.
Three men were arrested for allegedly robbing two collection agents of Rs 38 lakh after throwing chilli powder in their eyes in southeast Delhi's Lajpat Nagar area, police said.
The accused have been identified as Abu Bakar, 19, Zeeshan, 23, and Asif, 26, all residents of Shriniwaspuri, they said.
On Friday around 5.45pm, police got information about a robbery on Defence Colony Flyover at Lala Lajpat Rai Marg.
Police rushed to the spot and met the callers. They said that they had come to Lajpat Nagar-IV market to collect payments from garment traders there, a senior police officer said.
The officer said the two agents told police they had collected Rs 38 lakh in all from various shopkeepers.
They kept the money in a bag and hailed an auto-rickshaw for Chandni Chowk. When the auto-rickshaw reached the Defence Colony flyover, it was waylaid by four people who were on two motorcycles, the officer said.
They got the driver the stop his auto and tried to snatch the bag from the agents, but failed after they resisted. The assailants then threw chilli powder in their eyes and made off with the money bag, police said.
During investigation, CCTV footages were analysed and four men were spotted conducting a recce of the area, police said. They found that the same four suspects were following the auto-rickshaw.
Police analysed around 10,000 phone numbers collected as dump data and zeroed in on a number, the officer said.
The number was found to be in name of one Harsh, a driver, whose Eeco van was later found to have been used by the robbers to escape to Khurja in Uttar Pradesh after the robbery, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Esha Pandey said.
Following the lead, police arrested Abu Bakar and Zeeshan from Shriniwaspuri on Wednesday, and Asif from Panipat in Haryana.
Zeeshan told police that he used to work at a garment shop in Amar Colony market and was well aware of the flow of cash from the market to Chandni Chowk, the DCP said.
He left his job during Ramzaan and hatched a robbery plan with Abu Bakar and his other associates, she said.
He confessed that they followed the victims and robbed them at Defence Colony flyover.
The Eeco van and motorcycle used in the crime, and Rs 21,72,000 in cash were recovered from their possession, police added.
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