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New Delhi, May 9, 2026 — A robbery-murder that took place in north Delhi has led police to the victim’s own cousin, who allegedly told the attackers exactly where to find the cash he was carrying. Delhi Police have arrested four people in the case, including a juvenile, and are searching for three more suspects.
Prabhat, the man who died, was a money collector for shops in the bustling Gandhi Nagar Market. On September 24, he and his nephew Sachin had finished their rounds and were heading home in an electric rickshaw. Around 7:20 pm, four armed men stopped them near the Neeli Chhatri Mandir underpass.
According to a senior police officer, the attackers tried to grab a plastic bag that held the day’s takings. Prabhat resisted, and the situation spiraled into violence. The men attacked him, Sachin and another passenger with knives before fleeing with the money.
Prabhat was taken to a hospital with serious stab wounds but was declared dead on arrival. Police registered a case at the Kashmere Gate police station the next day.
The initial investigation offered few immediate leads. The underpass area is busy, and the attackers seemed to know exactly when to strike.
Police screened more than 500 CCTV cameras, including roughly 150 installed near the underpass and on the roads leading to it. Footage from automatic number-plate recognition cameras was also reviewed.
One detail stood out: a car made a sharp U-turn at high speed near the underpass and moved toward Salimgarh Fort. The vehicle was captured from a distance, and poor visibility made it hard to read the number plate at first. After additional technical analysis, investigators identified a registration number.
But that number led to a dead end. The plate belonged to a Noida resident named Bhagat Singh, and the vehicle on file did not match the one in the CCTV pictures. Police concluded that the attackers had used a fake number plate.
The breakthrough came when investigators traced another car with a Uttar Pradesh registration number. CCTV showed that vehicle approaching the underpass from the direction of the Yamuna, through Loha Pul, about two hours before the attack. Five to six people were inside.
That vehicle was linked to Deepu Rathore, a resident of Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. Police then analyzed Deepu’s call records and found a mobile number that had been in contact with both Deepu and Prabhat. The number was traced to Om Singh of Kanpur — Prabhat’s first cousin.
The discovery changed the direction of the investigation. What initially looked like a random street attack appeared to be a carefully planned robbery with inside information.
Police sent teams to Kanpur, Jhansi and Etawah. Om Singh was arrested from Kanpur. Deepu and a 16-year-old were picked up from Jhansi. Another accused, Abhishek, was arrested from Etawah, where he was reportedly hiding.
Officers recovered about 2.29 lakh rupees from the accused. The breakdown was:
The amount, roughly $2,700 at current exchange rates, was less than the attackers may have expected. But it was enough to set off a chain of events that ended in murder.
During questioning, Om told police that Prabhat was the son of his paternal aunt. He admitted to passing on details of Prabhat’s cash collection route to Deepu and a man named Raj, who is currently absconding.
The conspiracy began to take shape in Noida, where the accused finally decided on the plan. Deepu brought Rohit Yadav and the juvenile from his village in Jhansi. Raj and Om contacted Anirudh Chauhan and Abhishek to round out the group.
On the day of the attack, most of the accused traveled toward the underpass in Deepu’s car. Abhishek reached the spot separately on a motorcycle. After the robbery and killing, the group returned to Noida, divided the stolen cash and split up in different directions to avoid detection.
Police said the arrested accused are not first-time offenders.
Deepu, 28, has previously been named in cases related to rape, attempted murder, extortion and rioting. He has also faced charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, as well as the Goonda Act and the Gangsters Act in Uttar Pradesh.
The 16-year-old suspect has a prior record involving charges under rape, POCSO and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in Jhansi.
The investigation is not fully closed. Three people allegedly involved in the conspiracy and execution of the robbery — Raj, Anirudh Chauhan and Rohit Yadav — are still missing. Police said teams are carrying out raids in multiple districts to trace them.
The case also raises fresh questions about how vulnerable cash collection routes are in Delhi’s wholesale markets. Prabhat was carrying a relatively modest amount, but the attackers knew the timing, the route and the lack of security around it. That inside knowledge came from a family member.
The murder is a grim reminder of how much weight a single tip-off can carry — and how easily a person with no criminal intent can be turned into a target by someone close to them.
