The fairer face of crime in India
27 Jan 2008, 1200 hrs IST, Rahul Tripathi , TNN
When the Bangalore police recently caught up with a 40-year-old serial killer, they were in for a shock. After all, it was not everyday that a
cold-blooded murderer turned out to be a woman. But if the police in the Capital are to be believed, women criminals are a menace they increasingly have to deal with.
In an alarming trend, more and more women are taking to the world of crime, till now considered a male bastion. In the latest incident, the crime branch busted a gang of snatchers led by a woman who worked in the call centre of a foreign airline.
The reasons being attributed to this trend are many, among them socio-economic causes. Many of the women criminals started their life of crime in gangs led by men. As the most trusted lieutenants, they often took over the mantle after the gang leader was either killed or arrested.
And incidents of women criminals giving the police sleepless nights are many. The east district police took months before they could nail Geeta Arora Sonu Punjaban (32), an alleged pimp working for dreaded criminals like Hemant Sonu, on August 30, 2007. During interrogation, Punjaban revealed that she had been associated with a number of criminals and provided active support for their activities.
"She was fascinated by criminals. She has been associated with them for the last 12 years. Her first boyfriend from the underworld was Vijay Singh, an extortionist from Uttar Pradesh who belonged to the Sriprakash Shukla gang. He was killed by the Special Task Force of UP police in an encounter," said a senior police officer.
Domestic help Sudha (35), who mostly targeted elderly couples, was arrested by the south district police on May 23. Sudha used to drug her elderly employers and escape with their valuables, leaving no clues behind. Her area of operation was Delhi and NCR.
Her luck ran out when the police team finally joined the dots and with the help of some technical surveillance, swooped down on her Chennai home. Cash and goods worth Rs 3 lakh was seized from her.
Sudha took to crime after she was deserted by her husband who also took custody of her three children. In order to get them back and provide them with a good life, she joined the world of crime. A sleeping pill addict herself, Sudha used the same medicines to disable her victims. Three cases were reported from New Friends Colony, Greater Kailash and Sarita Vihar in Delhi and four from the rest of NCR where she had mixed the drug in her employers' food and decamped with the booty.
There have also been a number of incidents of women being used as couriers to smuggle counterfeit currency. In fact, five such women were arrested last year by the Delhi Police. The lure for them was the hefty commissions they received.
"The gangs use women as they almost never arouse suspicion. It's a western trend that gangs here have picked up," said a senior officer in the crime branch. The crime branch on May 28 arrested three persons, including a woman, along with fake currency from the Mumbai-Ferozepur Janta Express. The three were identified as Asghar Ali (61) and his son Vakil Ahmed (21) along with Meena Begum.
In a similar incident, Tabassum Abullah Motorwala, a resident of Jogeshwari in west Mumbai was arrested for carrying fake currency notes. Counterfeit Indian currency notes worth Rs 5 lakh of Rs 1,000 denomination were seized from her. She told the police that she was in the business not only because the commission was good but also because the risks were few.
"The number of women involved in cheating cases is very high. Since it is a white collar crime without much risk involved, women criminals have taken to duping people lured by the high returns," added the crime branch official.
(cont'd)
