india

Updated: Nov 18, 2019 00:20 IST

The Madhya Pradesh Police ended the two-year reign of the lone female dacoit -Sadhna Patel - who operated in the Vindhya region of the state and Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.

Police said she was arrested from Satna district which also spelt the end of the eight-member gang.

The 21-year-old Patel is an accused in more than a half-dozen crime cases including abduction of a teacher in Satna and a businessman in Nayagaon area last year.

Carrying a reward of Rs 10,000, Patel was a leader of the gang and was wanted for the past two years, said Riyaz Iqbal, superintendent of police, Satna.

“Acting on the tipoff about her movement in Kadianmod forest area of Satna district, police cordoned off the area and arrested her on Sunday morning. Women police personnel also participated in the operation. Police recovered a rifle, four live cartridges and some items of daily use,” said Iqbal.

“A resident of a village in Chitrakoot, UP, Sadhna Patel was familiar with dacoits as her paternal aunt was a member of dreaded dacoit Chunni Lal Patel’s gang but Sadhna entered the world of crime after a dacoit named Naval Dhobi with whom she had an affair, was arrested in 2017. After Naval’s arrest, she started leading the gang and robbed many traders both in UP and MP,” said Iqbal.

Patel was also in contact with another dreaded dacoit Babli Kol, who was killed in an encounter last month.

In an anti-dacoit operation, police arrested six members of her gang in the past one month and after her arrest, the active gang of dacoits in Vindhya region has come to an end, said the SP.

(With inputs from Amit Singh Sengar)