Bandit Gains Locals' Loyalty While Long Eluding the Police

By Rama Lakshmi
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, March 25, 2008

JHINNA, India -- Wearing a bulletproof vest, the policeman balanced himself precariously on a rock and looked through binoculars at the thick bamboo and teak jungle growth ahead. Twenty-two other officers, equipped with AK-47s and night-vision devices, spread themselves around in the day's fading light, some crouching, others hiding behind trees and rocks.

"Do you see any bandit movement, sir?" an officer asked from behind a tree.

"Not yet, but we have information he was here yesterday," responded the first man.

In a two-hour search that followed, the officers combed a patch of dry jungle in the central Indian plateau, looking for an elusive bandit called Thokia, Hindi slang for "the one who shoots."

The operation was a surreal mix of medieval and modern tactics. To find their way, the team relied on both village whispers about bandit sightings and Google Earth satellite images.

On this evening, they came up dry, again.

"Ambika Prasad Thokia is the most wanted bandit in this area today," said Beni Prasad Ahirwal, a police officer in the search party. "There are 64 cases of murder and kidnap against him. There is a $12,000 reward on his head. He cannot hide in these jungles for long because we are making his life hell."

Madhya Pradesh, a region of jungles, forbidding rocky ravines and deep poverty, has harbored bandits and renegades since at least the 12th century, historians say. Between 1957 and 2001 alone, nearly 5,700 bandits have come and gone in the province.

In the past five years, Thokia, 33, has become part of the local folklore, a Robin Hood figure.

He and his gang of 20 have killed several police officers and other bandits. They have abducted businessmen and public works contractors for ransom. They also have managed to build a reputation of never hurting poor people, especially those of the leader's own caste.

"All bandits use the caste structure to become powerful," said Dinesh Kumar Singh, an assistant professor of political science at Jiwaji University, Gwalior. "Members of the caste community vicariously derive social prestige from the bandit. They feel proud that one of their own is invoking fear among the policemen."

One of five children, Thokia was born to a lower-caste farmer with a small plot of land in Lokhariha village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. When he was a young man, the story goes, his sister was raped. He pleaded with local police and the village council to arrest the perpetrator, but they refused. So at 23, he ran away from home, pledging revenge. He killed the brothers of the rapist, but the man himself is still free.

Many villagers refer to Thokia as "brother." Some say he is a good man who was forced by circumstances to take up arms. Others say he is religious, never missing his prayer chants at dawn. For members of his kurmi-patel caste group, he is a benevolent protector who settles petty village disputes and donates money at weddings.

By most accounts, he is also the highest-educated bandit in Madhya Pradesh in recent years, having finished half of an undergraduate degree in commerce. He worked part time with a pharmacist learning about health care, and sometimes gives free medicine to villagers in need, thus earning another of his sympathetic names, "doctor."

For businessmen in the area, he is simply a bloodthirsty bandit. He sends out life-threatening ransom demands on his own private letterhead that says "King of Bandits" in Hindi on top. Police say that Thokia's name spells such fear among businessmen that they often quietly hand over the money to him without informing authorities.

A handwritten extortion note addressed to a construction company, procured from the police files, begins with an invocation of the Hindu goddess Kali and demands the equivalent of more than $100,000. "Or else, your machines will be destroyed, your men will be abducted and you will not be allowed to work in the district," the note ends.

An employee of a company that is building a road in the area said he received a phone call from Thokia three months ago. "I cannot give you any details, I don't want more trouble. But Thokia asked for money," said Babu, an engineer with the company. "It is a bandit area, we work under a lot of fear. Our construction work halted for now, after his call."

But villagers of the kurmi-patel caste who spot Thokia and his men walking in the jungle appear to breathe not a word to the police.

Three weeks ago, Thokia and his men sought shelter at an impoverished, dry, red-soil hamlet in the jungle called Majhgavan. The villagers watched him from behind trees in hushed silence.

"I saw the doctor-brother. He bathed under a tree and sat with his eyes closed in full meditation. His rifle hung from his shoulder as he chanted," recalled Rajesh Kumar, a 26-year-old farm laborer. "He bought some flour and potatoes from me. He also gave an injection and some medicines to my uncle who was sick. He told us not to be afraid and not to tell the police."

The police do not even have a recent photograph of Thokia, relying on a picture from his teens. But their investigation files are full of Thokia trivia. He is 5 feet 3 inches tall and wears pants that are 30 inches around at the waist; his tennis shoes are size 10. He wears four gold rings and a thick, spiraling chain around his neck. On his right arm is an egg-shaped, dark brown mark.

Most of his gang members are in their 30s and wear khaki-colored uniforms, but Thokia prefers black. He wakes up at 4 every morning, bathes and recites verses in praise of the goddess Durga, and lights incense sticks. He is so devout that his men carry coconuts so that he can break and offer them in prayer at shrines they pass in the jungle.

He has even won the admiration of some police officers. "He has no bad habits," said Abhay Singh, the superintendent of police, after listing the outlaw's alleged crimes. "No smoking. No drinking. And no relations with women. His word is law in the gang. And this is how he has managed to remain safe until now. He cannot be tempted."

India's most famous bandit was a lower-caste woman called Phoolan Devi, the subject of a 1994 movie called "Bandit Queen." She later was elected to Parliament with support from women and lower castes.

Last year, Thokia joined the long list of bandits who dabble in politics. He campaigned stealthily for his mother when she ran for the Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly. But despite his considerable influence, she lost by 3,500 votes.