From MBA graduate to ex college principal, five women criminals on U.P’s ‘most wanted’ list

KANPUR In the first week of May, Uttar Pradesh Police had come out with a list of 31 most wanted criminals. Within just one month, the state police unit has been able to neutralise or arrest five of them. However, the remaining 26 criminals mentioned on the list continue to keep the state police unit on its toes. Police have also announced cash rewards — in the range of ₹50,000 to ₹5 lakh — on these criminals but in vain.

Interestingly, five among these 26 dreaded criminals are women. These women are being hunted not just by the U.P. Police but other agencies like the Central Bureau of Investment (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as well. Here is a list:-

Deepti Bahal

Former principal of the Baraut College of Education in Baghpat, Bahal has been on the run since 2019. She is the only women on the list to have a cash bounty of ₹5 lakh. In fact, no other women in the state’s history have had this amount of bounty on her.

She is one of prime accused in the Bike-Bot scam along with her husband Sanjay Bhati, who operated from Noida to promote the bike-taxi venture. At least five agencies are looking for her as the Economic Offences Wing, Meerut unit, which is probing the case, estimates the fraud at ₹4,500 crore. She is named in 118 cases lodged across the country.

Bahal who holds a doctorate degree was the additional director in her husband’s firm Garvit Innovative Promoters Limited (GIPL), which launched the Bike Bot scheme in 2017. The scheme promised good returns to customers on their investment in motorcycles that were to be used as bike-taxis. Against the investment of ₹62,100, the company was to pay ₹9,500 per month.

At present, CBI, ED, UP-STF, EOW, Meerut, are investigating the case. “Undoubtedly, she is the most wanted woman in Uttar Pradesh. It’s like she has vanished in the thin air,” said an official of UP-STF, adding that ED is following the money trail. It may help in locating the couple and other people involved in the scam. CBI is expected to issue a red corner notice against her.

Afshan Ansari

Wife of mafioso-politician Mukhtar Ansari, there is a bounty of ₹75,000 on Afshan. She is named as a member of her husband’s inter-state gang “191”. Afshan has 11 criminal cases — eight in Ghazipur and three in Mau — against her. Presently, she is wanted in a case of land fraud in Raini village where Vikas constructions, a firm she is directly involved with, built a warehouse and rented it to Food Corporation of India (FCI).

Later, an investigation found that the land was leased out to Dalits, and the leases were transferred fraudulently in name of the firm and the partners. In 2021, the Ghazipur administration bulldozed the boundary wall and the construction. Thereafter, Gangster Act was invoked against Afshan Ansari on January 31, 2022.

After her name came up in this case, she went underground. Her name is on 12th spot on the list of most wanted criminals. Afshan married Mukhtar in 1989 after a brief courtship that began in the townhall ground where Mukhtar played cricket. They have two sons, Abbas and Umar Ansari.

Shaista Parveen

Shaista rose to prominence after her husband Atiq Ahmed was incarcerated. She was to contest the mayoral elections as a BSP candidate. However, her name cropped up in the sensational Umesh Pal murder case and the party dropped her.

Having a reward of ₹50,000 on her capture, Shaista was recently named as a mafia by the Prayagraj police. According to police, she arranged 16 SIM cards for the shooters of lawyer Umesh Pal through her son Asad. She gave three SIM cards each, mobile phones, and ₹1 lakh each to the hitmen.

In addition, she is billed as someone who was handling criminal activities of gang in absence of Atiq and his brother Ashraf (alias Khalid Azeem). Apart from her, Ashraf’s wife Zainab Fatima and Ayesha Noori, sister of Atiq, also carry a cash reward of ₹50,000 each. Noori is accused of harbouring a hitman, Guddu Muslim. All the three women are untraceable. A senior officer of U.P. STF said that Shaista was prime figure behind Umesh Pal’s murder. She was involved right from planning to execution.

Kishun Kumari ‘Panditayin’

Since 2002, Kishun Kumari has been in the drug business. It began from Gorakhpur and spread to Nepal and many other districts of Uttar Pradesh. In October 2022, Gorakhpur police attached her property valued at ₹14 crore. The identification of her benami properties is still ongoing. Considering the scale of her operations, police have opened her history-sheet this year. She was also booked under the Gangster Act in 2017.

With 15 criminal cases to her name, Panditayin carries a cash reward of ₹50,000. She controls the drug business in the entire district for the past 35 years and continues to be unchallenged. She was first arrested in 2002 in an NDPS Act. In 2015, she was again held with drugs worth ₹26 lakh.

A police officer, who was among those who questioned her in 2015, said that she moved to Gorakhpur from Faizabad and settled around Hobert Bandh. Due to financial constraints, she started selling smack. Slowly her business grew bigger, and she began recruiting peddlers and sellers.

Shweta Gupta

An MBA graduate from Prayagraj, Gupta is perhaps the most notorious car lifter. Her area of operation extends up to five states. Shweta was last arrested in Prayagraj with four of her gang members in 2015. She was being tracked for many years in connection with theft of 300 SUVs.

After completing her post-graduation in business administration, she worked in a mobile company before moving into the purchase of accidental cars. Later, she started stealing premium four-wheelers. While she started solo, soon her gang grew to seven people. All of them were skilled. They targeted the rich in the NCR, Kanpur, Lucknow, and Ghaziabad.

She made people do reconnaissance to find out vehicles that can be lifted. After the theft, she used to drive the vehicle. In case of a police check, those on patrol would avoid stopping a woman. She spent her illegal earnings by holidaying in Himanchal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttarakhand. According to a police officer, she loves mountains, and is possibly hiding in the hills.