The Mardaani who witnessed Yakub Memon's hanging in Nagpur jail

Maharashtra's Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Prisons Meera Borwankar - the first woman IPS officer from the state was among the five Maharashtra senior cops who was in the jail when Yakub was hanged.

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Meera Borwankar
The movie Mardaani is influenced by the life of Meera Borwankar (in pic).

Yakub Memon's hanging in Nagpur Central Jail has once again put the spotlight back on Maharashtra's Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Prisons Meera Borwankar - the first woman IPS officer from the state. On Thursday, she was among the five Maharashtra senior cops who was in the jail when Yakub was hanged.

When asked about her opinion on the Yakub's hanging, Borwankar said, "This is a sensitive issue, I cannot comment on it." Known as a woman supercop, Borwankar has played a huge role in the extradition of Abu Salem, Monica Bedi, Iqbal Mirchi, Tariq Parveen and Sharmila Sitaram Naik alias Sharmila Shanbhag

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Originally from Punjab's Fazila district, Borwankar did her schooling from a government school. Her father OP Chadha is a former BSF officer who was posted in Fazilka. She earned her bachelor and master degrees from Punjab.

"It has been three decades in Maharashtra. I faced some difficulty while learning Marathi initially. I still miss Punjab a lot and keep on visiting my village which I had left in 1981," Borwankar told MAIL TODAY.

Borwankar shot to fame after she had unearthed the infamous Jalgaon sex scandal in 1994. She is also remembered for her role in putting a number of Mumbai mafia behind bars which include Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan gang members. Ironically, the Rani Mukherjee-starrer film Mardaani was influenced by the life of Borwankar who herself is an admirer of former IPS officer Kiran Bedi.

Asked how women of the future generation can keep the Mardaani alive in them, her only advise was not to compromise or resort to short cuts in life to attain success.

"You should also write that I went to a government school and was born and brought up in a rural Punjab village. There is a Mardaani in every woman, which can be kept alive only with hard work and without making any compromise. Success never comes to those who take short cuts," Borwankar said.