It must be remembered that apart from collecting ransom at just one time, the dacoits were generous enough to offer the facility of instalments for their victims, who complied.

The list of ransom sent in several cases gave interesting facts about the social status of the dacoits. In one particular list on the letterhead of one Bihar Sarkar, the gang had asked for a ransom of 5000 rupees, it had also asked for items like Nirma Soap, Cooking Oil, a Goat (Khassi), and the funniest of all, for 19 Chand Brand Lungis. The Lungis of a particular brand , the Chand Mark, were preferred by the dacoits. I later discovered that this was believed to be one of the most comfortable brands. After a stint as the City SP of Patna for about a year, where the gangs used to operate using mobile phones for asking ransom, this way of asking for ransom on letterheads with the stamps of ‘Bihar Sarkar’ were unique indeed. 

At about the same time a major political crisis had followed the arrest of the Honourable legislative assembly member from Bagaha. The matter was finally resolved by the intervention of the Honourable CM. The issue was put to rest. The CM was of the view that the public had given a mandate for the change of Bihar. As per the newspapers the CM was also of the view that the SP of Bagaha was doing a good job and was effectively breaking the police-dacoit nexus in Bagaha.

To be continued...