Mohar Singh Gurjar (1926 or 1927 – May 5, 2020) was a former

dacoit Dacoity is a term used for "banditry" in the Indian subcontinent. The spelling is the anglicised version of the Hindi word ''daaku''; "dacoit" is a colloquial Indian English word with this meaning and it appears in the ''Glossary of Colloquia ...

bandit turned political leader. He was one of the most dreaded dacoits of the Chambal valley in the 1960s. Singh had 315 cases against him, of which 85 were murder cases.

Criminal career and life

He had become a dacoit after murdering a man over a property dispute in the year 1955. Mohar Singh carried a reward of 12 Lakh rupees now about 1.5crores on his head in the late 1960s and '70s. He surrendered in front of

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for le ...

in 1972 along with his gang of over 150 dacoits. At the time of his surrender, as part of the negotiation, he was promised that he would not be given a death sentence and was kept in an open prison. He was given agricultural land by the government as a means of livelihood.

Politics

After serving eight years in prison Mohar Singh was released in 1980 and entered into local politics. He was elected unopposed in a local body election in 1995. He was elected to Mehgaon municipality and served as a councilor for two terms in the 1990s. He was associated with

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

, he later supported

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

. In September 2019, Singh had written a letter to the prime minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

for the restoration of the Bateswara temple, a historic structure, which was constructed by the Gurjara-Pratiharas.

Death

He died on 5th May 2020 at the age of 92. He was survived by his two sons and a daughter.

In popular culture

Mohar Singh starred in a 1982 Hindi film named, ''

Chambal Ke Daku ''Chambal Ke Daku'' is a 1982 Hindi-language action drama film directed by S. Azhar and produced by R. Sandhu. Two real life dacoits of Chambal, Mohar Singh and Madho Singh starred in this film. It is the first movie in India where two crimin ...

'', which marketed with the tagline: 'first time real dacoits on-screen'. In May 2006, it was reported that a film named ''Pakad'' was being made, featuring three dacoits Malkhan Singh,

Man Singh Man Singh I, popularly known as Mirza Raja Man Singh (21 December 1550 – 6 July 1614) was the 29th Kachwaha Rajput Raja of Amer, later known as Jaipur state, in Rajputana. He was the most powerful and trusted general of the Mughal e ...

and Mohar Singh and the story was reported to be written by M. C. Dwivedi, former chief of police of Uttar Pradesh.

References

External links