Lady Don: How Zoya ran Baba’s crime syndicate?

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police arrested notorious gangster Hashim Baba in 2019, but even behind bars, he continued to operate his crime syndicate. The key to his ongoing criminal activities lay with his wife, Zoya Khan, who was recently arrested in northeast Delhi.

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Zoya, also known as Lady Don, managed Baba’s illegal operations from the outside, much like Mumbai’s Haseena Parkar, who once oversaw her brother Dawood Ibrahim’s Mumbai operations from the 1980s to the 2000s.

Several high-profile crimes, including the murder of Nadir Shah in Delhi’s upscale Greater Kailash area, the brazen shootout at GTB Hospital, and the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, have been linked directly or indirectly to Hashim Baba. Remarkably, all these crimes occurred while Baba was incarcerated. So, how did he keep his gang active from prison?

The reasons are manifold: An alliance with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, a strategy to recruit new criminals from within prison walls and, most significantly, the role of his third wife, Zoya. For years, Zoya operated as Baba’s external link, managing his illegal affairs and ensuring the gang’s survival. According to Delhi Police sources, the 33-year-old frequently visited Baba in jail, receiving coded and clandestine instructions to run the syndicate.

Despite close surveillance, Zoya repeatedly evaded arrest. She enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, flaunting expensive jewellery and commanding respect from gang members, who followed her orders without question. Sources claim she even attended high-profile parties, building a network of influential contacts. While the police were aware of her activities, they lacked concrete evidence to take act against her.

Her downfall came early Wednesday when the Special Cell received a tip-off about Zoya’s involvement in a drug delivery. Senior officers quickly formed a team and set a trap at an undisclosed location in northeast Delhi. Zoya was caught with 225 grams of heroin, valued at nearly Rs 1 crore, leading to her arrest and dealing a major blow to Baba’s criminal empire.

Baba, also known as Ashim, has been lodged in several jails for the past six years but has remained a dominant figure in northeast Delhi’s crime scene for over a decade. His criminal journey began in 2007 when he was caught with an illegal firearm in the IP Estate area. A fan of actor Sanjay Dutt, Ashim sported long hair, the “Khalnayak” style, and eventually changed his name to Hashim Baba.

Over the years, he climbed the ranks of the criminal underworld, starting as a henchman for established gangs before forming his own. His activities kept the police on edge until his arrest in 2019. Currently, Hashim Baba faces 16 criminal cases, including murder and attempted murder, and has been charged under the MCOCA.