Gadarias cool to women, cops foxed

The Gadaria gang loves triggering bloodbath, strikes terror with kidnapping, dacoity and extortion but unlike many other bands in the Chambal valley does not fall for the lure of women.

The Gadaria gang loves triggering bloodbath, strikes terror with kidnapping, dacoity and extortion but unlike many other bands in the Chambal valley does not fall for the lure of women.

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Dayaram (32) and Rambabu (28) Gadaria lead an all-male band of dacoits and stay away from the shadow of women. No woman members in the gang and no mistresses for the bandits. This strict ‘no-no’ to dealings with women is one of the reasons why the gang No. 1 in Chambal still evades the police dragnet. At least this is what some police officers, hot on the Gadarias’ trail, say.

The all-male character frees the gang from machinations and conflicts revolving around woman members. Many woman dacoits for most are just molls of dacoit chiefs.

Plots surrounding women have proved the nemesis of many a bandit band in the ravines. Dayaram and Rambabu, called the Veerappans of Chambal who together carry a reward of Rs 10 lakh on their heads, do not have wives. This makes it difficult for the police to lay a trap for the gang. 

Salim Gujjar lives amid mistresses Among dacoit gangs in Chambal that of Salim Gujjar alias Pahalwan Singh is the most licentious with women. The gang has the most woman members. Salim Gujjar has many concubines and reportedly is bathed by women of the gang every day. The gang has become weak over the years. One of the oldest surviving gangs in the region, Salim’s gang has been facing a threat from its archrival Jagjivan Parihar whose gang has grown strong of late.

“Dacoits who frequent the houses of their wives and concubines are easy to track and it is through these women that information about their movement and intelligence about gang is obtained,” says a senior police officer posted in the Chambal Range.

“Rambabu and Dayaram were married but the wives of both died,” says ADG (Special Operations) SS Shukla,  heading the anti-dacoity operations in the state.

The Gadaria gang, wanted in almost 100 cases including the Bhanwarpura massacre, is too smart to fall to this trap. The Gadarias have often claimed that as long as they carry guns, they will not have any contact with women.

During a recent abduction the gang, which tops the most wanted list (T-1 in police term), had touched the feet of women, offered them money and allowed them to go while abducting eight male passengers onboard the bus.

Other police officers, however, say some members of the Gadaria gang do have illicit relations with women but they run their affairs with utmost caution. They do not inform the women in advance when they will come. They do not also stay at their houses.

“It is not that Gadarias are not promiscuous but the women with whom they have relations do not have idea when they would be called,” says Shukla.

Dayaram-Rambabu Gadaria gang  with that has half a dozen core members and are opposed to Gujjars. The gang has earned crores through abductions and had recently earned around Rs 50 lakh in ransom from eight persons kidnapped from a bus in Sheopur.