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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 apart from a ransom of 5000 rupees also asked for another items like Nirma Soap, Cooking Oil, a Goat (Khassi), and the funniest of all, Lungis of a particular brand, named the Chand Mark. I later discovered that this was believed to be one of the most comfortable brands of Lungis. 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’ was unique indeed.
Several dacoits had been killed in police encounters earlier in Bagaha, but the problem remained. A famous operation called 'Operation Blackpanther' with a large contingent of Police Force had been organized in early 1980’s. The model for tackling the dacoits had more or less remained the same since then. After every major incident by the dacoits, there would be combing operations in the jungle and the diaras. The dacoits would disappear for sometime and then resume their activities. There was no end in sight of a complex symptom. Dacoits had actually become a part of the social set up. The dacoits had their families, they possessed land,they had social relations and also organized social get togethers which were at times attended by the political leaders of the area.
To be continued...