BENGALURU: She flaunts a tattoo of a gun with DANGER and leads a lavish life. She owns luxury cars and superbikes. Known as Bengaluru’s ‘Lady Don’, Yashaswini Mahesh (37) alias Muniyamma, a history-sheeter in Basavanagudi police station, is now made the president of Sri Rama Sene’s State women’s unit.
Yashaswini has been booked for assault and lending money at very high-interest rates (known as ‘meter baddi’ in local parlance) and faces extortion, robbery and chain snatching charges. The police say people are so scared of her that very few register cases against her.
On how she was picked for the post, Pramod Muthalik, founder, Sri Rama Sene, said, “Yashaswini is innocent until proven guilty by court. Our state members have chosen her to work towards betterment of Hindu women and I gave my consent. We are happy to welcome her.”
Yashaswini said: “I am sure of coming out clean from the court cases. I will protect our women and ensure Hindutva is upheld.”Yashaswini runs her ‘business’ from home along with her husband and brothers. Her ‘clientele’ are mostly middle class and lower middle-class women who easily fall prey to her alleged Shylockian ways of money lending. A history sheet was opened against her in 2012 in Basavanagudi.
The mother of two moved to Bengaluru a few years ago along with her history-sheeter husband Mahesh alias Dadiya Mahesha.
A victim who was allegedly threatened with an acid attack if she did not pay the interest amount of Rs 50,000, said, “She is going to protect Hindu women? How can you expect her to become president of any forum?”
Her debtors dread not repaying money taken from her, say police
Yashwaswini and her husband stay in Subramanyapura. Her husband is a native of Kanakapura and has a history sheet against him in JP Nagar police station. The couple started their ‘business’ in alleged crimes in 2012. A case of chain snatching, robbery and extortion was filed on August 3, 2012 against Yashaswini. She also has two cases of chain snatching and 10 cases registered in JP Nagar against her. She then resorted to ‘meter-baddi’ business.
“Every single person who has borrowed money from her dreads not repaying it. The kind of language she uses and her way of dealing with recovery scares them. She has assaulted at least 25 women in several areas, as her business was widespread,” said a police officer.
Several victims said she openly used to give statements of having political contacts and police links. “She used to warn us against complaining to the police. Now, we have more reason to be scared of her,” said an aggrieved woman Chaitra (name changed), a resident of Subramanyapura.
Keerthi, a victim from Kothnur Dinne area said: “She threatens people. How can she even protect anyone? We didn’t know her background and my wife and I borrowed some money from her. We were paying the interest with great difficulty. Recently, due to some problems when we couldn’t pay up, my wife was abused and insulted in front of everyone. She consumed poison but we managed to save her.”
Meanwhile, reacting to her entry into Sene, a senior police officer said: “She had escaped twice from police custody. Now the case is in the court and the trial is on in a few cases. However, her entry into Sri Rama Sene won’t rip her ‘rowdysheeter’ status. She will still remain a history sheeter with the police.”