Delhi’s ‘Lady Don’ Zoya Khan arrested with heroin worth Rs 1 crore
Delhi Lady Don arrest news: After years of evading arrest, Zoya Khan, wife of notorious gangster Hashim Baba, has finally been arrested. The Delhi Police Special Cell arrested the 33-year-old in the Welcome area of North East Delhi, recovering 270 grams of heroin valued at approximately Rs 1 crore in the international market.
Zoya Khan, often referred to as the ‘Lady Don’ of Delhi, played a crucial role in managing her husband’s criminal empire while he remained behind bars. Despite being on the radar of investigative agencies for a long time, she had managed to avoid any direct link to illegal activities—until now.
Zoya Khan is the third wife of Hashim Baba, a feared gangster with multiple cases of murder, extortion, and arms smuggling. Before marrying Baba in 2017, Zoya was married to another man but divorced him. It was after this that she became involved with Hashim, who was her neighbour in North East Delhi.
Following Baba’s incarceration, Zoya took over the gang’s operations, much like Haseena Parkar, the sister of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who once controlled his vast criminal empire. Sources within the Delhi Police Special Cell confirm that Zoya was actively managing extortion operations and drug distribution networks on behalf of Baba.
Luxury lifestyle and coded communications
Unlike traditional crime bosses, Zoya maintained a high-profile image, frequently attending elite parties and flaunting expensive designer clothes.
Investigations have revealed that Zoya regularly visited Baba at Tihar Jail, where he allegedly trained her in coded communication methods. Using encrypted messages and secret phrases, Baba guided her on running the gang’s finances and operations. She also stayed in touch with other criminals and his accomplices outside prison.
Despite multiple attempts by the police to pin her down, Zoya managed to stay ahead of the police—until now. Acting on a tip-off, the Delhi Police Special Cell conducted a raid in the Welcome area of North East Delhi, where she was caught red-handed with a substantial quantity of heroin. The consignment was reportedly sourced from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh for further distribution in Delhi.
Sources suggest that Zoya also provided shelter to shooters involved in the high-profile murder of Nadir Shah, a gym owner from South Delhi’s posh Greater Kailash-1 area. Shah was shot dead in September 2024, and Zoya was recently interrogated in connection with the case at the Lodhi Colony office of the Special Cell.
Crime runs in the family
Zoya’s criminal background extends beyond her marriage to Hashim Baba. Her mother was arrested in 2024 for her alleged involvement in a sex trafficking ring and is currently out on bail. Additionally, her father has long been suspected of having ties to drug supply networks.
Zoya’s operational base was primarily in Usmanpur, where she was constantly surrounded by armed henchmen—loyalists of her gangster husband. North East Delhi, a region infamous for organised crime, has long been home to notorious gangs such as the Chhenu gang, the Hashim Baba gang, and the Nasir Pehelwan gang. These groups initially focused on drug trafficking but have been embroiled in violent turf wars since 2007.
Connections to Lawrence Bishnoi
Hashim Baba’s gang amassed significant extortion revenue, much of which was funneled to Zoya to manage operations. Baba’s name also surfaced in the Nadir Shah murder case, where he allegedly confessed to being involved and pointed to links with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
Bishnoi, who is accused of orchestrating the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala and the firing outside Bollywood actor Salman Khan’s Mumbai residence, is known to run a vast network of shooters. Police sources suggest that Baba and Bishnoi established a connection in 2021 while incarcerated in separate jails. Despite their confinement, they maintained communication through illegal mobile networks and coordinated criminal activities from behind bars.
- With inputs from agencies
