Lipstick and lead: The rise of Delhi’s lady dons
New Delhi, April 19: In the narrow lanes of northeast Delhi’s Seelampur, the murder of 17-year-old Kunal Singh has jolted a city already reeling under the weight of rising crime. The teenager was stabbed near his home on a Thursday evening, and despite being rushed to nearby hospital, he was declared dead on arrival.
The killing sparked furious protests across the area, and with it, drew national attention, not just for the violence, but for who was behind it.
The prime suspect in the case is not a hardened male gangster but a 22-year-old woman. Known locally as “Lady Don,” Zikra is a former bouncer, a mother of a two-year-old, and a member of the Mastan gang as reported by media. She was arrested, along with three others, in connection with Kunal’s murder, allegedly orchestrated as revenge for a previous altercation involving her brother.
Zikra, police say, had been trying to carve out her own place in Delhi’s criminal underworld after the arrest of her mentor and one-time roommate, Zoya Khan, another woman dubbed “Lady Don.”
Zoya, the wife of jailed gangster Hashim Baba, was arrested in February this year with over 225 grams of heroin in a narcotics case. Before her fall, she had run extortion and drug operations with surprising autonomy, stepping into the vacuum left by her husband’s imprisonment.
These are not isolated cases. Within the last two months, two women with prominent criminal profiles have been arrested in separate cases involving drugs, extortion, and murder. Their rise reflects a disturbing pattern that is drawing increasing attention from law enforcement and political leaders alike.
“Lipstick and lead”—a phrase now whispered in Delhi’s police circles—captures this uneasy transformation: the collision of femininity and firepower, where young women don make-up and wield pistols with equal ease. Social media becomes both weapon and camouflage, amplifying their reach while masking their intent.
Zikra, who used the Instagram handle “Sher_ki_Sherni,” frequently posted videos brandishing pistols and bullets. One reel showed her gleefully loading a country-made firearm; another captured her striding through her neighbourhood, looking back defiantly at the camera while being escorted by police. For her followers, it was theatrics. For investigators, it was evidence.
Out on bail from a prior case involving illegal arms, Zikra had reportedly returned to Seelampur to reclaim territory and seek vengeance. Police say as reported by media her target was a man named “Lala” who had allegedly assaulted her brother, Sahil. When Kunal, who had no proven connection to the incident, failed to provide information, Zikra allegedly ordered the hit. The stabbing, caught on CCTV, shows two teenagers attacking Kunal near his home. He was stabbed repeatedly in the chest and neck.
The backstory is murky, stitched together through revenge, peer loyalty, and gang rivalry. Kunal’s family insists he was innocent, a bystander caught in the storm of someone else’s vendetta. “Zikra used to roam around here with a pistol. An incident happened with her cousin Sahil, but my son wasn’t involved,” his mother Parveen said, as reported by a national newspaper weeping outside their home. “Yet they killed him.”
The broader context makes this more than just another murder. It raises questions about how quickly women are rising within Delhi’s gang hierarchies, not as accomplices but as leaders, often using the same tools of intimidation, narcotics, and social media bluster as their male counterparts.
Zoya Khan’s case illustrates how the old male-centric structures are transforming. The 33-year-old was arrested in February with heroin worth an estimated ₹1 crore. She had been directing criminal operations while her husband remained in Tihar Jail, reportedly receiving instructions through coded language during prison visits. Her arrest followed weeks of surveillance and is now seen as a breakthrough in the crackdown on organised crime involving women.
As the city's residents' gossip over who is to blame, the ruling BJP and opposition AAP trading barbs over the "deteriorating" law and order situation, residents in areas like Seelampur feel increasingly abandoned. “Modiji madad karo, Yogi model chahiye,” read one protest banner, invoking Uttar Pradesh's more muscular policing approach as reported in the media.
According to the Delhi Police’s 2025 quarterly crime report, violent crime in the capital has risen by 11% compared to the same period last year. While men still constitute the vast majority of suspects, women’s participation in serious crime, particularly drug trafficking and revenge killings, has tripled since 2022, albeit from a lower base.
In response to the Seelampur killing, Joint Commissioner of Police Pushpendra Kumar said, “Ten teams have been formed to investigate all angles. We are close to cracking the case.” Zikra has reportedly confessed during interrogation, and police are probing her links to other unsolved cases.
Still, for many watching this shift, the concern goes beyond one murder or one gang. The emergence of “Lady Dons” like Zoya and Zikra represents a new chapter in Delhi’s criminal narrative. And so, amid a happening city and capital where cri,e rate is up, a new model is rising from the alleyways— lipstick-stained, pistol-toting, and blatantly dangerous.
