Delhi’s crime world sees surge in women bosses

On the dusty streets of Delhi, fear doesn’t always come in the shape of a broad-shouldered man with a pistol. Sometimes, it wears a saree or salwar kameez, lines its eyes with kohl and carries a name whispered like a curse.

The brutal stabbing of a 17-year-old boy on April 17 laid bare this new reality. As three attackers pounced on their victim, a 19-year-old woman stood motionless nearby -- Zikra Khan, the notorious “Lady Don” of Seelampur.

Women like Zikra have moved from the fringes to the forefront of Delhi's criminal underworld. Gone are the days when police files featured only male gangsters. Today's crime lords include women running drug empires worth crores, ordering hits and trafficking women and children.

“Women criminals can be colder than men. While male gangsters want to prove themselves. These women focus solely on results,” says a Delhi Police officer.

Their paths to power vary -- some clawed their way up from poverty through petty crime, while others fell for gangsters and inherited empires after their partners were jailed or killed. What sets them apart, the police say, is their ability to weaponise both vulnerability and fear, vanishing into a crowd as an ordinary woman, then reappearing as a shadow in someone’s final moments.

Zikra’s recent murder chargesheet joins a growing dossier on Delhi’s female crime bosses.

Among the most feared is Sonu Panjaban, born Geeta Arora, transformed from a gangster’s widow into the undisputed ruler of GB Road’s flesh trade. Her prostitution ring supplied minors to high-profile clients before multiple arrests under POCSO and trafficking laws brought her down.

The next on the list is Zoya Khan, who commanded a drug empire after her gangster husband Hashim Baba’s imprisonment in 2019. The police say she kept the network alive until her arrest with 225 gram of heroin worth nearly Rs 1 crore.

Zikra Khan, a former bouncer, specialised in recruiting and training teenage assassins. Her alleged involvement in the teenager’s murder cemented her reputation as one of Delhi’s most dangerous women.

Some of women gangsters are legends in their territories. Parents use their names to scare children. Rival gangsters fear them. And in the shadows, some admire their power. Their rise proves one thing -- in Delhi’s underworld, brutality has no gender.