GHAZIABAD: She could be your next-door neighbour. But Mansi Bhatt, a student of Delhi University, is a 21-year-old femme fatale. The Ghaziabad cops reacted with disbelief when she - or so they allege - turned out to be the leader of a gang of burglars operating across five states. Her arrest, along with six others, has led to the recovery of gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 2 crore.
The gang members were returning from Mumbai, unaware that their use of a stolen mobile had made it easy for the cops to track them. They were intercepted at the UP border on Thursday night.
Mansi is a BCom student and has been working part-time as a travel agent in the Kalindi Kunj area of southeast Delhi. But, under the cover of this job, she headed a sophisticated operation for carrying out burglaries in other states.
Originally from the Pauri district of Uttarakhand, the girl is a close friend of one of the accused, Vikram, whose father is a manager in a textile mill. Her father, a senior government official in Uttarakhand, had passed away sometime back and she was staying with her mother in the Indirapuram area. She joined the gang about a year ago and soon assumed command.
The other accused - Ramesh, Satyendra, Chand, Mukesh and Amit - too are from middle class families with their fathers working in UP Roadways and Indian Railways.
According to SSP (Ghaziabad), Raghubir Lal, the gang had an elaborate modus operandi. It would either drive or fly to a city and check into a good hotel. This would help in avoiding any suspicion. Mansi would, according to the cops, survey the target area, posing as a courier girl. She would chat up the unsuspecting security guards from whom she got most of her information.
The Times of India
