MUMBAI: When police began tracing the network behind the firing at actor Tiger Shroff’s car in Mumbai’s Juhu area, the trail led them beyond the alleged shooters and their associates to two young women accused of helping transport the weapon used in the operation.Radha (23) and Babita (23) are among the four people arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell on October 20 in connection with the case. The other two are Kunal (21) and Sumit (19).According to investigators, the two women travelled from Delhi to Mumbai, with Radha allegedly carrying a pistol and ammunition in her bag. The weapon had reportedly been collected in Amritsar by Kunal, who was allegedly acting on instructions from Anil Pandit, a suspected associate of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.Police have alleged that Kunal persuaded his girlfriend, Radha, whom he had met around two months earlier, to travel to Mumbai with the weapon, with Babita accompanying her.The investigation has also pointed to an alleged system in which weapons were left at predetermined locations for collection, reducing the need for direct contact between those supplying and receiving them.But beyond the details of the shooting, the arrests raise a broader question: what role are women playing in the networks that sustain India’s increasingly fragmented gang wars?In other cases, too, women have been accused of facilitating contact with targets, maintaining relationships that helped gangs gain access to victims, or operating criminal networks themselves.The routes into these worlds may differ. So do the levels of authority women exercise within them. Yet the cases point to a dimension of organised crime that is often overshadowed by the men whose names dominate headlines.
Two women, one alleged weapons trail
According to the police account, the alleged chain began with Kunal travelling to Amritsar with his associate Sumit to collect a pistol and 20 rounds of ammunition.Police have alleged that the task was assigned by Anil Pandit, who communicated with Kunal through an encrypted messaging application.Sources told news agency ANI that the weapon was collected through a method known as a “dead letter box”, which is a prearranged location where an item is left for another person to retrieve, without the two necessarily meeting.The police’s account places Radha and Babita further along this alleged chain. The two women, who reportedly work at a factory in Sonipat, Haryana, travelled to Mumbai after Kunal allegedly arranged for Radha to carry the weapon.Police have said the women were arrested as part of an operation to dismantle the alleged weapons supply module connected to the firing. They are also investigating the roles of the other accused and the wider network behind the attack.The firing took place in Juhu on Sunday evening, when at least two men allegedly opened fire at Shroff’s car before fleeing on a motorcycle. The actor escaped unhurt, while his driver sustained injuries. Mumbai Police have registered a case under provisions relating to attempt to murder and the Arms Act.The Crime Branch is investigating the alleged conspiracy, including the supply and transportation of the firearm.For the women, the central question is not simply where they travelled, but what investigators believe they were asked to do and how they became connected to the alleged network.Police accounts indicate that both women were associated with the Sonipat area and that Radha had met Kunal only a couple of months before the alleged assignment. Police have suggested that her personal connection with him was relevant to how the alleged task was arranged.The case has drawn attention to a recurring feature of criminal investigations: women can occupy positions along the operational chain that are less visible than those of the alleged shooters or gang leaders, but potentially significant to how a crime is organised.
A girlfriend, a gun and a journey to Mumbai
Radha’s alleged role has drawn particular attention because of the account that she had met Kunal only around two months earlier.According to police, Kunal persuaded her to accompany him on the journey to Mumbai with the weapon. Cops have also alleged that she was asked to transport it, while Babita travelled with her.The alleged use of a personal relationship to arrange a task brings into focus a familiar question in investigations involving organised crime: when does an ordinary social connection become part of a criminal network?Gangs rely on more than people who pull triggers. They need contacts, communication, transportation, safe movement of goods and people who can connect different parts of a chain. Investigators in the Shroff case are examining whether Radha and Babita were used for one such function.Women involved in criminal cases are not a uniform category. Some may be alleged facilitators, others may be accused of knowingly carrying out specific tasks, while still others are suspected of exercising decision-making authority.
Delhi’s brazen Burger King shootout
The Shroff case is not the first time a woman’s alleged role in a gang-related crime has become a major part of the investigation.In June 2024, the killing of Aman Joon at a Burger King outlet in Delhi’s Rajouri Garden brought investigators’ attention to another woman, Anu Dhankad.Police claimed that she had befriended Joon on Instagram using a fake account under the name Preeti and brought him to the restaurant, where two gunmen shot him dead.Investigators said Anu had operated multiple Instagram accounts under different names. They suspected that she had helped lure Joon to the restaurant as part of a conspiracy linked to the gang associated with fugitive gangster Himanshu Bhau, who claimed responsibility for the killing in a social media post.Police also examined her movements after the shooting and searched for her after she left her paying guest accommodation. The investigation focused on whether she had helped the gang identify or approach potential targets.The two cases are not identical. In the Burger King investigation, police alleged that Anu’s contact with the victim helped bring him to a location where the attack took place. In the Shroff case, investigators have alleged that Radha and Babita helped transport a weapon.But the cases share a significant feature: investigators are examining women’s alleged contributions to operations that depended on access, movement and connections, rather than focusing only on the people who allegedly carried out the shootings.In one case, a social media identity allegedly helped establish contact with a target. In the other, a personal relationship is part of the police account of how a weapon was allegedly moved.Both illustrate why investigators increasingly have to examine the wider network surrounding an attack, including the people who may help make an operation possible before the violence itself occurs.
How the ‘lady don’ evolved
For decades, the phrase “lady don” in India was most closely associated with women who allegedly managed criminal networks, inherited influence after the arrest or death of male relatives, or became powerful figures in their own right.Haseena Parkar, sister of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, became one of the most widely known female figures associated with Mumbai’s underworld. After her husband, Ibrahim Parkar, was killed in 1991, investigators alleged that she became an influential figure in the city, with links to disputed properties and extortion-related activity. She denied wrongdoing and died in 2014.In Gujarat, Santokben Jadeja, known as the “Godmother of Porbandar”, was accused of involvement in criminal activity after her husband, Sarman Jadeja, was killed in a gang rivalry. She later entered electoral politics and served as a legislator. Her life inspired the film Godmother.Other women, including Neeta Naik and Archana Balmukund Sharma, also attracted attention in crime reporting over allegations involving gang operations, extortion and kidnapping.Their stories emerged in an era when the underworld was often described through large syndicates, territorial control, smuggling and relationships between powerful gang leaders and their associates.The modern landscape is more fragmented. Investigators now routinely encounter networks that operate across state borders, rely on encrypted communications and use social media to project power, intimidate rivals or establish contact.
Beyond the ‘lady don’ tag
In the Shroff case, the investigation into Radha and Babita has brought the questions into the foreground.Who approached them? What exactly were they asked to do? What did they know about the weapon and its intended use? Did they understand the alleged plan, and what evidence supports the answers to those questions?Those are questions for investigators and, ultimately, the courts to address.(With agency inputs)
