I had joined Bagaha at the time of a crisis. Dacoits of the Rudal and Chumman Yadav gang had killed four farmers in the diara of the Gandak, just across Bagaha town. As their bodies were brought to the Bagaha Subdivision for postmortem examination, there was a general unrest in the crowd which had gathered against the police. It was already getting dark as the crowds swelled.

The police which tried to control the situation was under tremendous pressure from the mob which started brickbatting to give fuel to the pent up emotions. The police resorted to firing, in which one died on the spot, and another died later during treatment. To control the crisis, the state government immediately transferred the SP, and ordered me to take charge. The first week in Bagaha had been spent in the company of the IG, Muzaffarpur and the DIG, Bettiah, who had also been ordered to camp in Bagaha till the situation gets normalized.

A lot of stories about Bagaha were discussed,along with Ratn Sanjay, who had a very successful tenure as the SP of Bagaha earlier. Bagaha was a small place and a sleepy town. The railway station which was the most preffered point of starting a journey to Bettiah, Muzaffarpur, Patna or Delhi, was like what you’d have read in Malgudi Days. The small beauties of Bagaha were very charming. In the early days as I got acquainted with travelling across the Gandak with the Gypsy being transported on a boat to cross the other side to the diara, the effect had begun. Several marches were carried out in distant pockets of the diara along with a large contingent of forces. 

At one of these raids, I also met a political leader who had earlier been kidnapped by the dacoit Vasudeo Yadav Tiwary, and had ever since been opposing the naxals by forming Gram Raksha Dals. People in the villages of Bagaha either supported the dacoits or opposed them. There were villagers who patrolled their fields with arms to avoid the assault of dacoits. Others provided shelter and information about the movements of the Police.

To be continued...