New Delhi, Aug 19: Delhi Police on Saturday arrested 62-year-old Basiran, colloquially referred to as the "godmother of Delhi". She is booked under 113 cases, including contract killing and extortion.

Basiran is accused of heading a crime syndicate in Sangam Vihar region. Her 8 sons -- two of whom are arrested -- were part of the syndicate and involved in array of criminal activities including smuggling, bootlegging, robbery, kidnapping, extortion and murder.

Basiran's arrest came after the Delhi Police launched a search operation for her alleged involvement in the contract killing of one 21-year-old Miraj.

According to the team headed by Deputy commissioner of police (South) Romil Baaniya, Basiran took Rs 60,000 from Munni Begum, the step-sister of Miraj, to get the him killed.

The police had already nabbed Basiran's two sons and Munni Begum in the case. After invoking the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), several assets of the 62-year-old were seized in Delhi and adjoining regions.

Since her assets were freezed, said DCP Baaniya, Basiran was turning financially and psychologically weak. On Saturday, she returned to Delhi after hiding for days in severa towns of Uttar Pradesh. The accused wanted to approach a lawyer, said DCP Baaniya, adding that the police took advantage and arrested her.

The investigators said MCOCA would be invoked against all members of the family, barring Basiran's husband Malkhan Singh -- the only member in the family with no criminal records.

Police said Singh, a resident of Dholpur in Rajasthan, was married to Basiran, native of Uttar Pradesh's Agra, nearly 40 years ago. The couple lived in the Govindpuri slums of Delhi till the 80s' and shifted to Sangam Vihar in the 90s'. Nearly three decades ago, Basiran took up bootlegging as a form of employment and since then, she has been penetrating deeper into the criminal world.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 19, 2018 01:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).