She is in her early 30s. At first glance, she comes across as a suave English-speaking college girl. Tick her off and you get blasted in a desi dialect, which is a mix of Hindi and Haryanvi. That¡¯s Sonu Punjaban alias Geeta Arora ¡ª someone who has been ruling the dark underbelly of flesh trade industry in the capital since years, police said.
These days, Sonu has been living with her male friend at her plush flat in Sant Nagar of southeast Delhi. For a change, the man in her life is not a criminal, though she refuses to disclose his identity to police.
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¡°Every man who came in her life died. She always had a fascination for bad boys,¡± said an investigator.
Geeta changed tracks in life after she fell in love with gangster Vijay Singh, a close aide of gangster Shri Prakash Shukla. Singh was gunned down by UP¡¯s STF in Garh Mukteshwar in 2003 soon after they got married. Her next boyfriend, Deepak, was shot down as well in Assam.
Deepak¡¯s brother, Hemant Sonu, gave her a helping hand and stood by her. He got her a flat¡ª a grabbed property ¡ª and began to visit her often. Soon, they got married. An accused in several cases of robbery, murder and extortion, Hemant got involved in a high profile double murder case that got cops on his trail.
In March 2006, Hemant and two of his associates, Jaswant and Jaiprakash, were killed by Special Cell on the Delhi-Gurgaon border.
¡°Hemant had the biggest influence on her life so much so that she took up his name and became Sonu Punjaban,¡± an investigator recalled.
Police records show that Geeta later got close to Ashok Bunty of the same gang, who was also killed in an encounter after a few months.
By this time, Sonu was neck-deep in flesh trade. Sources in Delhi Police said that she had a big role in the arrests of Icchadhari Baba and Nagma ¡ª her main rivals.
With dozens of pimps at her service, Punjaban allegedly began to supply girls to clients in Kolkata, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Punjab. She amassed property to the tune of around Rs 100 crore. The rate charged by her ranged between Rs 5,000 and Rs 20,000 depending upon the girl¡¯s profile. School and college students, airhostesses and TV actresses were also supplied by her, police said.
A day before the World Cup finals in 2011, south Delhi police swooped down on her network and shut it down. Six years later, she is in the police dragnet yet again.