 | | Archana Sharma, as per police records | Birth Date: November 17, 1975
Native place: Lucknow
Education: Graduation from
Lucknow University
Weight: 53 kg (117 pounds)
Eyes: Black
Hair: Black
Complexion: Fair
Aliases: 1) Manisha Agarwal
2) Minakshi Ahuja
3) Nalini Chaudhury
Associates: 1) Babloo
Srivastava, 2) Fazal-ur-Rehman
3) Irfan Goga 4) Dawood Ibrahim
Activities: 1) Blackmail, 2) Extortion, 3) Kidnapping, 4) Murder |
Is the Lady Don dead? This is the question that has been haunting the police top brass in Pune, Mumbai and Delhi for the last two days, as the underwold buzzed with rumours that Archana Sharma, India’s most wanted female gangster involved in the kidnapping and murder of Pune businessman Sagar Ladkat in 2000, has been killed in Nepal after she conned some drug traffickers.
Sources said Archana — known for her association with gangsters such as Dawood Ibrahim, Babloo Srivastav, Fazal-ur-Rehman (Fazal) and Viki Malhotra — was not traceable for the last two years.
They say since then, international drug cartels had launched a clandestine hunt for her. It was suspected that she vanished after swindling on a drug consignment. Now, it’s being reported that she has been killed by rivals who were hot on her trail in Nepal, where she had been hiding.
Top police officials in Mumbai said, “We cannot confirm or deny the report at the moment. Apparently, her body has not been recovered as yet.”
Killer looks
Archana Balmukund Sharma, girlfriend of Om Prakash aka ‘Babloo’ Srivastava and Fazal-ur-Rehman, is often referred to as ‘lady don with killer looks’. Hailing from Lucknow, the well-educated Archana has had a brief stint in Bollywood, including the movie Gangster, before she joined the underworld.
She has been a prime suspect in a number of serious crimes including kidnappings for ransom and murders across the country since the mid-1990s.
Pune police have been looking for her since 1998 for her alleged involvement in kidnapping and murdering city businessman Sagar Ladkat, who owned a petrol pump. He was kidnapped and murdered in May 2000.
Ladkat was returning to his house in Koregaon Park from his Somwar Peth petrol pump on the night of May 22, 1998, when members of the Fazal-ur-Rehman gang intercepted his car at Queens Garden and whisked him away to Kondhwa. He was hacked to death there, and his mutilated body was abandoned in his car.
Investigations later revealed that Archana, who was then camping in Kondhwa, had masterminded the crime, and that the perpetrators were youths from Bihar, handpicked by Irfan Goga and Fazal. Equipped with cellphones and two vehicles, members of the Irfan Goga gang had followed Sagar for 34 days before he was kidnapped and killed.
Archana’s life story
Archana hailed from a middle-class family in Uttar Pradesh. She graduated from Lucknow University. After that, she reached Mumbai to try her luck in films. While in Mumbai, she starred in a few Indi-pop albums.
Police said she was in touch with Srivastav, also a native of Uttar Pradesh, since her Lucknow days in early 1990s. Around 1993-94, she moved to Dubai and opened a garment store. There, she reportedly lived with Srivastav for some years, during which she was introduced to Goga and Fazal.
After Srivastav was arrested by Interpol in Singapore in 1995 and extradited to India, she returned to India and acted in Gangster. But she remained in touch with Fazal who was controlling the extortion operations for Srivastav, who called the shots from jail.
Ladkat’s murder and after
Archana’s role in the blackmail, extortion and kidnap racket first came to light in 1997, when she was arrested by Delhi police in an attempted murder case. But she secured bail, jumped bail and disappeared only to surface in Pune where Ladkat was murdered a few months later.
After the Ladkat murder, she resurfaced in Kolkata in December 1998. Her next target was Raju Punwani, a wealthy hotel owner. Police officials said she managed to tap one of Punwani’s close associates to track his business cash flow, and planned the entire crime including her and her aides’ getaway.
But the UP police got a timely tip-off and raided the flat in Jodhpur Park in Kolkata where Archana was camping, using her fresh alias Nalini Chaudhury, thus thwarting the entire kidnap operation.
That was the last time her presence was noticed in India. Later on, there were reports that Archana forged a tie-up with Dawood Ibrahim through Fazal-ur-Rehman. |
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