Indian Lady Don: There have been many women in the country who have earned fame in the world of crime. Some were known as kidnapping queens, while some became cyanide killers. On International Women's Day, let's know the stories of 10 such lady dons, whose names used to scare people.

Women are not lagging behind in any field today. From driving e-rickshaws to flying fighter planes, they are seen to be ahead of men. Their influence is constantly increasing in the corridors of governance and power. In such a situation, how can they stay behind in the world of crime. On International Women's Day, let us know the stories of 10 such lady dons, whose names used to scare people.

Santokben Sarabhai Jadeja: Killed 14 people

Santokben Sarabhai Jadeja of Gujarat is also known as Godmother. In the 80s, the owners took the help of a local goon to end the strike at a mill in Porbandar. When he reached the mill, he was murdered. The name of Sarman Munja Jadeja came up in this, who worked as a laborer in the same mill. After killing the goon of the area, Sarman took over his position and became a don himself. In 1986, Sarman was also murdered, then his wife Santokben took over the position, who killed 14 people in Porbandar to take revenge for the murder of her husband. For this, a gang was formed, which had more than a hundred people. More than 500 cases were registered one by one against Santokben, who became Godmother. Later, a film named Godmother was also made on it.

Archana Balmukund Sharma: Wanted to be an actress, became a kidnapping queen

Born in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, Archana Balmukund Sharma was also once synonymous with terror. The eldest of four siblings, Archana studied up to 12th from Kendriya Vidyalaya. After this, she got selected in the police and worked for six months. Meanwhile, she got a taste of becoming an actress in films and came in contact with don Bablu Srivastava. Through him, Archana could not become an actress, but she definitely earned a name as a dreaded criminal. With time, she started being called the kidnapping queen in the crime world. Later, there was talk that she kept extorting money from famous people of India while sitting abroad.

Sonu Punjaban, Haseena Parkar, Phoolan Devi and Jenabai Daruwala

Phoolan Devi: Killed 22 Thakurs

In the 1980s, Phoolan Devi was another name for terror in the ravines of Chambal, which spread from Uttar Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh. Born in 1963 in Jalaun district of UP, Phoolan, notorious as a bandit beauty, had to face atrocities in her adolescence. At the age of 16, she was kidnapped by bandits, which led her to become a bandit herself and on 14 February 1981, she became notorious by killing 22 Thakurs in Behmai village.

Phoolan said that these murders were done to take revenge because Thakurs had gang-raped her. In 1983, Phoolan surrendered on the condition that she would not be sent to UP jail. After being released from jail in 1994, Phoolan became an MP on SP ticket. Later, Phoolan was also shot dead.

Haseena Parkar: The Godmother of Nagpada

Who does not know the name of Haseena Parkar, sister of India's most wanted criminal and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. It is said that while fleeing after the serial blasts and riots in Mumbai, Dawood Ibrahim handed over the reins of all his illegal businesses in Mumbai to Haseena Parkar. In the world of crime, she was considered the Godmother of Nagpada and Appa (elder sister). Haseena once had absolute rule over the crime world of Mumbai. However, she died of a heart attack in the year 2014.

Neeta Nayak: Replaced gangster husband

Nita Nayak is not only known as the wife of gangster Ashwin Nayak, she also became her husband's successor. Ashwin had served jail sentence in more than a dozen cases of extortion, drug trafficking and murder across the country. At one time, there was a situation of gang war between Arun Gawli and Ashwin Nayak in Mumbai. Ashwin was injured in Arun Gawli's attack. Then his wife Nita took over all his business. However, later the husband and wife had a fight and in the year 2000, Ashwin got Nita killed by his henchmen. Later in the year 2005, that henchman of Ashwin was also killed in a police encounter.

Serial killers KD Kempamma and Rubina Siraj Syed

KD Kempamma: Cyanide killer's name found

Bangalore's serial killer KD Kempamma was also known by another name, Cyanide Killer, across the country. Karnataka's KD Kempamma was also known as Cyanide Malika. She lived in a temple in Bangalore and had made it a den of her sins. She used to target rich women visiting the temple. She used to assure them that she would relieve them of all their pain and sufferings due to family and children's problems. She used to ask them to come wearing all their jewellery for a special puja and then she used to kill them by feeding them poison on some pretext and loot them.

When caught, she was sentenced to death for this heinous crime. However, later the death sentence was changed to life imprisonment. Born in 1970, KD Kempamma committed her first murder in 1999. After this, she committed six murders in the next eight years. Five of these murders were committed between October and December 2007.

sonu punjaban

Geeta Arora alias Sonu Punjaban, a resident of Rohtak, Haryana, is known for running high profile sex rackets in the country, but she was no less feared in the world of crime. Sonu was arrested by the police in December 2017 on charges of forcing a 13-year-old minor into prostitution. Sonu had married twice and unfortunately both her husbands were killed in police encounters. She first married gangster Vijay Singh, who was killed in an encounter in 2014. When she married gangster Hemant Singh for the second time, he too was killed in Gurgaon two years later. Sonu has five cases registered against her not only of prostitution but also of POCSO Act and murder.

Rubina Siraj Syed

Rubina, who is famous as a heroine in the world of crime, was once a beautician. In the greed of becoming rich quickly, Rubina joined hands with gangster Chhota Rajan. With her beauty, she captivated many people including police officers and taking advantage of her beauty, she started supplying weapons and drugs to Chhota Shakeel's henchmen in jail in the 70s. The terror was so much that the Maharashtra government had to even impose MCOCA on her.

Jenabai Daruwalla

Jenabai Daruwala of Mumbai used to black market rations. Then she entered the liquor business. She had a house in Nagpada, Mumbai, where many big people used to visit. It is said that Jenabai did not have her own gang, but all the big gangsters of the underworld like Karim Lala, Haji Mastan and even the officers of the Crime Branch used to come to her house. Haji Mastan used to call her Aapa. None of these gangsters used to ignore her. It is said that Jenabai played an important role in uniting 22 dons in Mecca.

Samira Jumani

Sameera Jumani, wife of gangster Abu Salem, convicted of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, is also considered no less than him. Sameera Jumani's name has also been involved in several serious crimes like bomb blasts, fraud and extortion. Abu was brought from abroad and sent to Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai to serve life imprisonment, but the police could not find Sameera. It is said that she was also hiding abroad like Abu.