Other States - Rajasthan   

Dreaded dacoit lays down arms

JAIPUR: Dreaded dacoit Jagan Gujjar laid down arms in the predominantly Gujjar village of Kemri in Karauli district of Rajasthan on Saturday.

The outlaw, on whose head there is an award of a whopping Rs.11 lakh, surrendered in front of young Congress Member of Parliament Sachin Pilot at the local Jagdeesh temple falling under the Nadauti police station. Mr. Pilot was there to address a public gathering organised on the occasion of Basant Panchami, a festival ushering in the spring season. The dacoit went on the stage to lay down the arms he had brought with him. Mr. Pilot soon led him to a police posse standing at some 50 metres distance from the stage as a crowd of over 25,000 people looked on. Clad in blue jeans and a black jacket, in his chundri (cloth used for festive occasions) and safa (headgear), Jagan looked a hero to most of the onlookers. Before he climbed up the stage his supporters garlanded him with a string of currency notes and flowers. Mr. Pilot appealed to the crowds milling around for peace.

Jagan came in alone, without his dacoit queen Komesh, the association with whom had become part of local love legends. She could not come because she is right now in jail.

Aged around 35, Jagan has 76 cases pending against him including those for murder, rape, kidnapping and dacoity. Though he was known to possess sophisticated weapons including AK 47, the arms he surrendered did not include these.

Jagan, who had spread terror in Karauli, Sawai Madhopur and Dholpur districts in the past, turned into one of the most wanted dacoits in Rajasthan after he made an appearance along with Komesh at Pilu Ka Pura in Bharatpur district in May 2008 to offer support to the Gujjar agitators squatting on the railway track. His remaining at large had become a major embarrassment to the then Vasundhara Raje Government as he issued threats later to “behead the Chief Minister” and also to “blast the Dholpur palace”, now inherited by her son and MP, Dushyant Singh.

This past one month Jagan had been reportedly on the lookout for “safe” ways to surrender as such efforts in the past had resulted in “encounter” deaths of dacoits in the region. He had laid down certain conditions including an assurance of safe passage to mainstream life for him from Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, permission to remain with his love in the jail cell and arms licences to his relatives for self-protection. However, the authorities expressed ignorance over the conditions.

“He will be treated like any other criminal,” said Karauli SP Sarwar Khan, who escorted the prize catch first to the Mahavirji police station and then to Karauli. A large number of people were waiting when Jagan was brought there around 7 p.m. The police said they were making special arrangements for his safety in custody.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Ramniwas Mirdha’s elder son passes away
Dreaded dacoit lays down arms
Raids reveal ‘suspicious’ deals: I-T Department
Training instructor suspended

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu