She is an unlikely kingpin or rather the ‘queen’ — of an unlikely crime — specialising in the theft of copper wires.

Bharti “Madam” Parmar was working in a pigment company in Ankleshwar, when she got divorced from her husband, Bhikhabhai. But after realising that she won’t be able to raise her eight-month-old son with her measly salary, she organised a gang of six men to steal copper wires.

But after the police arrested some members of her gang from Ahmedabad with a cache of copper wires worth Rs 22 lakh, looted from a truck supplying the consignment to a Thane-based electrical supplies unit. Bharti surrendered to the Navsari rural police on July 19.

According to the details of the case, truck driver Mangubhai Thakur had lodged a complaint that six people had followed his truck from Valia Chowkdi in Bharuch on motorcycles, crossed into Surat district, and looted the truck near Navsari, on July 8.

Thereafter, with the help of the Bharuch Local Crime Branch, Navsari police officers gleaned information on the possible suspects in Padmavati Nagar and Brahmbhatt Nagar in Ankleshwar.

The police also received a tip-off about a large cache of copper wires being brought to the localities.

“But the truck was moved to Ahmedabad for sale and the Ahmedabad Crime Branch arrested one of the accused, Chinu Yadav (20),” said LCB Inspector C S Agrawat.

Sub-Inspector D K Patel of Navsari rural police said that after Yadav’s arrest, the Bharuch LCB picked up three more persons.

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