File picture of police busting a sex racket in Bhubaneswar.

Bhubaneswar, April 28: The new phenomenon of women criminals in capital city has left police officers and sociologists a little intrigued.

Several women have been involved in a string of criminal incidents during the last one year. On April 8 this year, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) busted a crime racket in which a woman along with her boyfriend was cheating people by promising them jobs in multinational companies. While the girl called Vaishali is yet to be arrested, her partner Dimpli Jena has been nabbed.

The duo based in Calcutta had cheated more than 20 persons in Orissa by promising them jobs. They had collected more than Rs 50 lakh from the gullible job aspirants by posing as officials from the human resource department of a reputed company.

On November 8, 2010, the city police arrested 23-year-old Bharati Singh from Dharmavihar area under Khandagiri police station in connection with the kidnapping of two junior engineers.

The police also seized three pistols and some live ammunition besides a dozen mobile phones and cash worth Rs 72,300 from her. The police till date have not been able to arrest the male partner of the girl. He had fled the day cops raided the houses from where the duo were operating.

In December last year, the Airfield police arrested a woman called Anu Ray from Bengal who had been working as a domestic help. According to the police, she used to plan robberies in the area.

Anu used to study the houses where she worked and pass on the details to her associates. They later carried out theft and robberies there. She also used to sell the stolen booty on behalf of the gang.

Police officers admit that there has been a spurt in crimes involving women. “Traditionally women are respected in our society and hence they are rarely looked upon with suspicion. However, some women appear to be taking advantage of this perception and committing crimes,” said S.N. Tiwari, former director general of police of Orissa.

Sociologists say that growing consumerism, increasing adventurism and influence of the mass media are driving middle class women towards crimes even in a conservative city such as Bhubaneswar, which is in the throes of a transition.

“Growing consumerism affects the middle class easily and women are most vulnerable. The lure of easy money also makes women commit crimes,” said D.N. Jena, a sociologist.

Psychologists feel modern women have begun to lose their defining characteristics and are becoming increasingly prone to crime. “Earlier women were more god-fearing and held traditional values in high esteem. But there seems to be a value shift in the society with women becoming more aggressive and even committing crimes,” said Haresh Mishra, psychologist.

Senior advocate Siddarth Das said increasing economic and social freedom had been misused by women who have taken to crime. Senior police officers, however, said that they are yet to compile statistics relating to involvement of women in crimes.