Mr Gentleman Dacoit

Although the dreaded bandits of yesteryears have given way to petty criminals, the legendary cult of the ‘daku’ throbs in the heart of Chambal

Akash Bisht Shivpuri/Gwalior

The roads are full of potholes that haven't been fixed for decades. The terrain is treacherous. A dust trail rises as the speeding Commander jeep snakes through the roads leaving small and poverty-stricken villages behind. Half- naked children chase our jeep with broad smiles on their faces, but our guide, Mukesh Jain, an engineer, carried a grim look. He seemed serious and restless. And alert. His eyes furtively scanned the forest and adjoining hills of the dreaded, undulating, infinite ravines. This is the heart of Chambal. Legendary dacoit country. The land of the 'gentleman dacoits'.

On our way to a small village in Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh, the young driver switches on the stereo. Loud local music. Jain screams: “Turn it off at once.” The driver turns it off and looks towards Jain. Jain thunders: “I can understand outsiders behaving like this, but you are a local and you should understand. Don't you know, can't you see, we are being watched?”

Silence descends inside the jeep and the only sound that can be heard is that of the engine. Jain is still scanning the forest and rocky terrain. He is clearly afraid. We too feel fear. Then, suddenly, Jain breaks the silence and says, “This is the same forest where I had walked for several days when the dreaded Gadariya gang kept me hostage for 23 days.”

He then tells us that the gang has been eliminated long ago, but terror still haunts the villagers of Shivpuri and adjoining districts. The Gadariya gang, headed by Dayaram and Rambabu, roamed these forests for years making money by extortion and abductions. They were ruthless towards the Gujjar community and informers in this dacoit-infested landscape. The gang hit the headlines when it gunned down 13 Gujjars in Bhanwarpura village of Gwalior district. However, the Gadariyas are still revered and called 'gentleman daku' or 'baghi' (rebel) by the locals who believe that they were the last gang to command such universal respect. “There are a lot of gangs that operate in the districts of Shivpuri, Shoepur, Gwalior, Bhind and Morena, but they are thugs and goondas who loot or kidnap for petty cash. They kidnap poor farmers and can even settle for Rs 2,000. The baghi image died with the Gadariyas. When I was kept hostage, I was treated with utmost respect. They never used harsh words, leave alone beatings and torture which has become a common routine now,” concedes Jain.

The police have come hard on all the big gangs that operate in the area, resulting in the creation of small gangs of three or four members who kidnap or kill someone and go into hiding in the dense and endless ravines where it is almost impossible to catch them. “These gang members are not men or dacoits we knew of, these are rats who would do a petty crime and go hiding in the ravines,” says RP Singh, Additional SP, Morena. He informs that these districts have witnessed more than 600 abductions in the past five years and more than 450 dacoits have been killed over the last 15 years. But the crime rate is still high.

DC Sharma, SP, Shivpuri, believes that part of the answer lies in the fact that many of these dacoits have evolved with the changing times. Rather than living in the ravines they want to spend their booty on mobiles, bikes, cars, women and alcohol. “Add all this with the harsh terrain, drought, unemployment, poverty, huge rural and urban gaps and the respect they get from the society, and you will figure out the real reason behind these men taking to guns,” adds Sharma. Dakus have evolved into modern criminals who take little risks and earn more than their legendary predecessors who lived a hard and difficult life in the ravines, constantly on the move, facing repeated police encounters. Hence the 'new dakus' represent a completely different self-image and value system.

People in this terrain boast of the 'dacoit image'. Communities support men who become dacoit as it gives them a high status. “In the past few years, Gujjars have been turning into dacoits to gain social status and have an upper hand in the region which was once a stronghold of Thakurs,” informs Mayank Tomar of Dainik Bhaskar in Morena. 'Big dacoits' like Nirbhay Gujjar, Rajjan Gujjar, Pahalwan Gujjar and Vakila Gujjar terrorised the locals for decades. Most of them have now been eliminated or have moved to other states but many more are joining into what is being touted as a lucrative profession.

“Dacoity has become an industry that offers big incentives. One has to just kidnap a low profile person and extort money and then, if necessary, take refuge in the ravines,” says RP Singh. He explains how kidnappings are being 'outsourced' these days. Local youngsters kidnap someone and then hand the victim over to bigger gangs in Morena or adjoining districts. These boys are then paid a part of the total sum. They become part of the nexus and it becomes difficult to nab them as they have no criminal record. RP Singh elaborates that it is much easier to catch big gangs than the smaller ones because of their strong network of informers.

In Shivpuri, Shoepur, Morena and Gwalior districts, this reporter noticed that every third person on the streets or on bikes carries a gun. “This is a major part of the problem. Morena has more than 30,000 legal licences and there is no count of illegal guns. For every small altercation, people pull out their guns and go on a shooting spree. Once they kill, they run for the ravines and become dakus,” says Singh. 

DC Sharma confesses that it was government policy that boomeranged. “When the Gadariya gang was operational, they would kill Gujjars. After the Bhanwarpura killings, we supplied huge caches of arms and ammunition to the Gujjars. Later, these arms went into the hands of Gujjar dacoits,” rues Sharma.

However, locals believe that dacoits can never be eliminated from Chambal because they are integral to its culture and people feel pride in being associated with them. And the region's inhospitable terrain becomes their biggest ally. “A dacoit has a cult following and he is a hero for his caste members. I have heard people saying, 'Ab to humara beta Jagjivan daku hai, humein kisse dar?' (Now our son Jagjivan is a dacoit, what do we have to fear?) People want to get their daughters married to these outlaws and take immense pride in it because that would mean social prominence in the village and nobody would dare hurt or abduct their family members,” informs Tomar.

People in the region admitted that earlier, dacoits had principles. Over the years, this has changed. Earlier, several dacoits came from poor families who revolted against the system and took up guns to help the poor and fight against injustice. Many of them respected women and would never touch them. The Gadariya gang was known for never misbehaving with women and apparently would never loot them even if they were laden with gold. The legacy of Chambal seems to have vanished with the Gadariya gang.

While entering what is still being claimed as the Gadariya territory in Shivpuri, people speak in hushed voices. They describe how they looted buses at a particular point. Bus owners offer prayers before entering this territory, though its been many months since the dacoits have been killed. As a passenger on a bus rightly put it, “These days, it's sissies who are entering this profession for making money and name. They are common thieves who respect no one. They are just bothered about making money even if that means looting a beggar or raping a little girl. The dakus of the past had dignity, ethics and aura.” 

Senior officials claim that dacoity is a sociological trend that has dominated the area for more than 100 years and it won't be easy to wipe it out completely. “Things are changing and so is the face of Chambal. The romanticised image of dakus is dying but the trend of dacoity continues to thrive in the hearts of many unemployed and poor youths. Society should stop patronising them and the government needs to address issues at the grassroots level,” summarises RK Mishra, Additional Collector, Shivpuri.