Barasat, Aug. 11: A housewife-turned-dacoit who led a gang of five on a month-long looting spree was arrested last night.

Ganga, 30, is the widow of a dacoit, Azizul Mondal. After Mondal died in a motorcycle crash two months ago, Ganga took over the gang’s reins to make ends meet. Her gang had been operating in Barasat and other areas of North 24-Parganas for the past month.

Ganga used to stay with Mondal in Ashoknagar, about 15km from here, but shifted to a rented house in Nawpara in Barasat town about a month ago.

“After her husband died, Azizul’s gang disbanded. But Ganga had to earn a livelihood and so she contacted all her husband’s associates. She approached them individually and used her charm to lure them into her gang,” said an officer investigating one of the dacoity cases.

The arrest of two persons — Mohammad Maidul alias Kalo Bablu and Bapan alias Indrajit Ghosh — from Nawpara last night put the police on Ganga’s trail.

The two told interrogators that Ganga had masterminded the dacoities and controlled all the operations through her mobile phone.

Ganga told the police that she chose dacoity to survive because this was the only “profession” she was familiar with. “She told us she had thought of running the gang for some time to raise money after which she wanted to move elsewhere and start a small business. She has already masterminded five dacoities and planned at least a dozen more,” an officer said.

A pipegun and some stolen jewellery were found on Maidul and Ghosh.

“We are interrogating them. Both have criminal records,” district superintendent of police Supratim Sarkar said.