THUG LIFE #1 | Gabbar Singh

Hi guys, welcome to the Desi Crime Podcast. I'm your host Arion. And I'm Ashwara. Like with all our episodes, please leave a review on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening to get a chance to win a free crime e-book. And follow us on Instagram and Twitter at Desi Crime for regular updates. Today's episode is our first episode of the Thug Life segment of our podcast. Today's Thug is none other than India's most popular villain. He's known for his character in Bollywood's biggest blockbuster, Shole. Although in real life, this Desi Crime committed 30 kidnappings, 31 murders, 32 decoities, and 26 nose-choppings. Yet he is still known to us today not for his atrocities, but for this one line. *Sounds of a gun* Hmm. How many people did you admit? This is Gubber Singh. , and I'm sure you've heard of him. Ashwara, did you know Gubber Singh was an actual decoite before I began research for this episode? I haven't actually. I only know of him from the movie, Shole. And that's the crazy thing, right? I mean, decoites who make up such a lot chunk of colonial and post-colonial India. And if you don't know about Gubber Singh, the most popular decoites/villain in Bollywood, imagine how many decoites have slipped through the pages of history. Okay, so for all you non-desi listeners and desi listeners who have committed the crime of not knowing Gubber Singh, let me lay bare the details. Gubber Singh is the villain of arguably the most popular Bollywood movie ever. In that movie, he is a terrorizing decoite whose dialogues have become a part of the Indian vernacular. The dialogue, Kitane Admi Ther. Which we just played for you is a small example of the imprint Gubber Singh has left on Indian cinema. For all the legacy, glamour and fame that this fictional decoite received, very few know of the actual decoite Gubber Singh who was the inspiration for this beloved villain. But that's the thing Aran, I don't think this has anything to do with Gubber Singh specifically, but motorway are general knowledge of the decoites in India, even though they play a very significant role in the political landscape of the places in which they stay or of the cultural landscape, the tourism industries where they stay. They do have significant impacts there, but yet I feel like we as a populist don't know about them till the time they don't feature in big Bollywood movies with big stars playing them. And Ashwara, this really troubles me. Not knowing your culture and its history is one of those things that compels me to revolutionalyze the educational system and CBSE. Just look at the west, for example, unfortunately. Children are taught about the Wild West, popular culture has helped educate the populists about the times when cowboys roam the streets of the American Frontier. Although lawless and brute, Americans have made these cowboys and this era into an iconic self-image of the United States. I consider decoites the cowboys of the East. I mean from Thug Baram to Foulind Devi, their stories are endless, in number and in Bravado. Decoites and thugs much like cowboys rode on horses, stole from the rich, gave to the poor, they were lawless outcasts, rebels as one may call them. But when I say cowboy, what's the image that it elicits in your mind? A white man with golden flowy hair, a gorgeous golden beard, a brown stetson with brown cowboy boots, a horse, a roll across the shoulder. Okay, I got the memo, thanks Ashwara, I got it. What does your mind conjure when I say decoite or daco? A black bearded thief? A black bearded thief, exactly, it is part funny and part sad how we've been conditioned to see extremely similar characters differently. Well, if this podcast does anything, I hope it helps decondition your biases and help you dwell deeper in Desi history. However, Gubber Singh isn't the most subtle decoite. He's known for many things in 1950s rural India, but benevolence, morals and respect aren't fun of them. It is rather the fear, the fear of Gubber Singh Goodger, which didn't let the children of Chumble Valley sleep at night. This fear is what immortalized the real Gubber Singh into the most popular villain in all of Bollywood. If there was a villainous laugh archetype, Amjad Khan's laugh as Gubber Singh in the movie Shole is the leading contender. Just that laugh right now you heard, just that laugh is enough for you to know that this decoite is absolutely mad. Okay, so full disclosure before beginning this podcast, I am guilty and I say this with the tear in my eye. I am guilty of not watching Shole and I know you haven't either Ashwara. I am really ashamed to say this, but I haven't either. Firstly, because I think no matter how famous the movie is, if it belongs to a time much before you were born, you immediately sort of look at the quality and the dialogues and the costumes and it all seems really over the top and not something you've grown up to. And also the movie's three hours long, I'm sorry I just cannot sit through that. I think the point about relatability that you bring out is really important. I promised myself I will watch Shole in preparation for this episode. But it is longer than Irishman. This movie is three hours 24 minutes long and I'm certain you know why Ashwara. The songs? The songs. I am DB calls this movie and I kid you not. I am DB calls India's most famous action movie ever and action musical. That is the funniest genre ever, but the Hollywood genre template doesn't fit Bollywood. A characteristic of Indian cinema are the boisterous wild colourful songs by that definition of a genre almost every Indian movie is a musical. And Shole wasn't short of its songs. So basically I had the option of either watching a three hour long film or reading records of the Madhya Pradesh police from the 1970s. I chose the menial task. Such is my dedication to our podcast. But in order for you to understand the real guber thing, you need to know a little about the movie that it analysed his name. This movie, Shole was released in 1975. Since then it has sold over 100 million tickets in India. That's almost one third the population of the United States and 60 million tickets in the Soviet Union. Some say this is the highest grossing Bollywood movie ever. However, now I would like Ashwara to read a few reviews of the movie which I retrieved from newspapers from 1975. Okay, so this says quote dead Ember quote a gravely flawed attempt making it a limitation Western neither here nor there. Howt others labeled it as sound and fury signifying nothing and a second rate take off. There's another one which says quote as a spectacle it breaks new ground but on every other level it's indolrypal, formless, incoherent, superficial in human image and a somewhat nasty piece of violence and quote. Guys, these are the reviews for India's most popular movie ever and that's funny because this movie was actually a box office flop in its first two weeks. However, after two weeks through word of mouth the movie's entire charm spread and the rest is history. The plot is simple, talker a retired policeman hires two ex-convicts Jai and Viru to capture the terrorizing decoit Yuna Hu Gubbersing. For more information about the movie go watch it. Now we come to the real Gubbersing which all of you have been waiting for. His character in the movie was actually inspired by Jaya Bhachan's father's writing. Tarun Kumar, Jaya Bhachan's father was a profound writer who wrote about the decoits in the Chambal Valley. So the Chambal Valley you guys is a region which encompasses the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and is infamously known for housing decoits. So in the context of these decoits, if you ever mention them, if you ever talk about them, if you ever try to understand them, you need to understand the politics and the geography of the Chambal Valley which most Indian decoits call home. In his book Abhisattva Chambal, one of the most dreaded decoits is Gurbarsing. And this is where the character was born. Both Amjit Khan who played the role of Gurbars and director Sipi of Sholeh to queues from this real life decoit. His name, his mannerisms and his quirks. But it took far more research to find out more about Gurbarsing himself. I was only able to trace a couple of reliable and complete sources about Gurbarsing. Both of these were in part written by officer Khusro Farah Murz Rostamji. The more I read about him Ashwara, the more I am in awe of how absolutely amazing a human being he was. I just feel that it sucks had I not started this podcast with you, I would have never known of him. He is the pioneer of the public interest litigation act in India. And he is also the founder of the Border Security Force. I hate not knowing about accomplished individuals whose creations we are surrounded by. In India, everyone knows about the PIL and BSF. But we don't know about the great KF Rostamji who pioneered them. I understand that Aran, but what does Rostamji have to do with Gurbarsing? Everything Ashwara, from his birth to his activities to his death. Gurbarsing and the other decoits in the Chambal became such a nonsense for then Prime Minister Nairu that the administration sent over KF Rostamji to become the Inspector General of Madhya Pradesh Police. Like note guys, Rostamji and Jawaharlal Nairu Prime Minister of India were close friends. In fact, Rostamji was Nairu's special intelligence aide. Nairu knew the mammoth task of quelling the rising decoitty in Chambal with ruthless barbarians like Gurbarsing at its forefront. And he only chose his most trusted man for the job. Having his time in the police, Inspector General KF Rostamji maintained a diary of his service. All of which have been chronicled by author and activist Rajagopal, P.V. in his book, The British, The Bandits and The Bodhaman. Ok, you have me hooked. Please tell me what you found. Enough for our listeners to say, the real Gurbars is the real deal. Gurbarsing Good Jair was born almost a hundred years back in 1926. His father was Raghuvarsing and they belonged to a village called Dung in Bhin, Madhya Pradesh. Gurbarsing was born a good Jair by caste. This detail is of utmost importance while talking about decoitty. Decoit gangs were formed on the basis of caste and enmity and animosity was predicated on caste differences. The good jairs were always at horns with the Brahman gangs. In fact, caste was such a matter of pride for decoits that in 1860s, a few years or decades rather before Gurbarsing was born, the British sentenced decoitty not to death but to prison in Kalapani or black waters, a jail which was in the Andaman Islands off the shore of mainland India. One common superstition among the religious class was that if you cross your motherland over international borders, you would be cursed and lose your caste. The fear of this, the fear of losing your caste led to decoitty in the late 1890s, such was the pertinence of caste and unfortunately still is in some parts of India. Now Gurbars had two brothers and a sister. They survived a small piece of cultivable land but Gurbars had to do menial tasks such as cutting stones to a quarry and laboring to meet the needs of the family. Gurbars dreamed of more, he yearned for more and in a report written by assistant superintendent AC Thrikha in 1959, he reports that the young man was influenced by the power and respect which decoits earned. Now I understand how decoits through fear gained power but the element of respect staggers me. Aran I understand where you are coming from but I just want to point out that it is clear that he came from a really poor family, it is clear that his family was finding it tough to make ends meet and it is usually in those kind of families where respect for anti-authoritarian figures usually starts because people like these who grow up in these families somewhere begin to feel that the authority is what has failed them and that is what leads to this rise of respect that you are questioning. That's right and there was respect for decoits for many reason, caste based loyalties as I just mentioned, their Robin Hood like stature, well they were fighting the enemy of the enemy and that made them their friends. Let me quote two lines from a paper written on social hierarchy of decoity in India. I quote, "Decoits in this area are regarded very much, they are the inspiration of young people, they are the Robin Hoods of the area, a decoit guest would be introduced by saying that he came after three murders, he may be available for the work if he is required for the villagers, he is given approval of his actions by the society." After being embroiled with the lustre of decoity, Gubber finally left his village and in 1955 he joined the gang of Kalyan Singh Gudjaar. Joining a gang was much like joining a secret society or fraternity that existed a period of pledging to test the loyalty of the member, albeit the pledging didn't necessarily involve murder. As soon as Gubber joined the gang, he was made to do things like committing murders, decoities and kidnappings and all this was done to ensure he does not leave the gang and also that he was not planted there by the police themselves. In a short while, Gubber earned the term Gubber, "Eshwara, you are from a Jart family, would you mind explaining to the audience what Gubber means?" So it refers to somebody who is strong, more so in their physical stature, but also somebody who is kind of rough on the edges, not a very sophisticated character. After a few months due to tensions with other gang members, as well as issues of interest with its leader, Kalyan Singh Gudjaar, Gubber, parted ways and formed his own gang. Now I dug up a little about Kalyan Singh Gudjaar and I was only able to find him mentioned in one of the police reports from 1972 when a massive decoit surrender took place where gangs and gangs of decoits just surrendered and that might just be one of our episodes, but that's the only mention I could find of Kalyan Singh Gudjaar. Regardless, Gubber are parted ways and formed his own gang with 5 or 6 members. During the period, October to December 1956, he committed a spat of murders and decoities to enhance his image as a gang leader. The reign of terror that he unleashed in the surrounding villages of the districts of Bind, Gwalior and Madhya Pradesh, Dholpur and Rajasthan, and Itawa in Uttar Pradesh, which included murder, decoity and kidnapping children for ransom, sealed the lips of the villagers and none came forward to give any information about his movements to the police. I am from Kanpur, a city very close to Uttarwa and I have heard the fear of decoits that loomed over the city's sky decades back. I can only imagine how bad it would be when a madman took over your city. I want to stop you here and ask, from what you say, although Gubber Singh of course comes off his ruthless, he seems like a quote unquote "normal decoit". Why did people fear him more than any other decoit in the Jambal Valley? This is where it gets really interesting, Ashwarya. He wasn't your normal, give me money or I will kill your son, Dekoit. No. Apart from it, Gubber was religious and highly superstitious. I see your expressions Ashwarya and I know you already know where this is heading. Of course I do, this is India, it's the land of saints, babas and astrologers. Someone crazy must have told Gubber something and I am pretty sure he believed it. Well it depends on what you define as crazy. I think what I am about to tell you is beyond crazy. Gubber had a tantric, a tantric is basically an astrologer. This tantric told him and I kid you not that if you, Gubber, cut off the noses of 116 people, if you Gubber Singh sacrifice 116 noses to the goddess, no bullet ever fired by the police or any person can ever touch you. Please tell me he didn't believe that. Oh yes he did. At least he. She tried his best and so began the tyranny of the infamous No Slayer who between 1956 to 1957 chopped off the noses of more than a dozen people in the villages of Machuari and Bhakore. In fact if you have seen Shole, you will immediately draw a connection. Shole's most intense and memorable scene is where Gubber saying chops off the hands of officer Thakur. The funny thing or not so funny is that this has been adopted from the real life of Gubber Singh. Let me also point out that in reality Gubber Singh actually chopped off the noses of two police constables much like in the movie Gubber chops off officer Thakur's hands. Now the police isn't going to sit there and do anything right? Gubber was one of the five decoits in the region who was crazy. Inching on insanity his atrocities were rebuked even by the general population of these areas. Unlike other decoits he didn't have the Robin Hood persona. After all he was Gubber Singh. Inspector General Rostamji realised that old approaches to the decoity problem were ineffective. The regressive police methods were best symbolized by the fact that before attacking a decoit gang officers which still shout her 'her maadev' which is basically a walk ride since everything dependent on luck instead of thorough planning. The decoits always had one step on the police. For many reasons they had the support of the people, caste loyalties, decoits were usually ex-military men with available ammunition. KF Rostamji sought to change this. To begin with he classified all the hundreds of decoits according to the threat they posed. Each decoit got a rank assigned. They were ranked from G1 which is the most threatening decoit to G100 which was the least of their concerns. Gubber Singh was G4. The fourth most feared decoit in the whole of India. In a span of 3 years Gubber had committed 31 murders, 30 kidnappings, 32 decoities. Imagine this being in US or Europe. This is like an update on Ted Bundy. But we don't know, it's just the context is so different and we don't know enough. There were so many stories like Gubber. Gubber isn't the only one. But if Gubber is G4, imagine the decoit who was ranked G3, G2 or even feared to think about a G1. The police tried many tactics to trace his gang which according to the history of Madhya Pradesh a book published in 1965 had grown to 28 members. This 28 member decoit gang was among the largest gangs. At one point the police were also successfully able to encircle him. However he managed to run away. Okay hold on Arun, you said they caught him. How were they able to catch him? Well Gubber Singh assumed that there was an informant involved. Okay hold on, I want to take this time to explain what an informant is to our viewers or cubries as we know them. So informers you guys are basically convicts that are caught by the cops for petty crimes like theory, trespassing or arson. And once they are caught the cops actually let them free without any charges. And they do that so that in exchange these convicts can go out, go back into their little gangs of criminals and feed the cops with information that they need. And that's their entire draw and that's really interesting. Actually these people form a very important structure of the police system in India and that's really cool to me. Well this informant wasn't the luckiest. Once Gubber Singh got out of the police raid it was suspected that there was an informant from the village of Dindpur. Once he escaped aswara he did the unimaginable. He lined up 21 people from the village of Dindpur who he suspected to be informers. This included peasants, childrens, farmer, poor people. And he shot all 21 point blank just to send a message across. But we live in a world of politics and none of this got the government to act. After all those 21 were poor people and poor people die they thought. It was when this became political is when the government actually acted. This is my favourite part of the story. Remember I told you how the astrologer told him cutting noses with save his life? Well the exact opposite happened. The opposition party found 12 people whose noses had been cut off by Gubber and they paraded them in front of the state legislative assembly. Pictures came in newspapers of people without noses and Gubber became national headline. Now due to political pressure the government had to act up. Immediately a price of Rs 50,000 was set as bounty on Gubber Singh's head which in today's value was over 5 lakh rupees. They also sent over the inspector general of police Biji Ghatte who was asked to camp in Bind to personally supervise the operation against Gubber. I mean that just tells you how threatening he was. Not Rustam Ji and Ghatte decide to assign the task force against Gubber to the young deputy superintendent Rajain Ruprasad Modi. He was an up and coming officer who had already taken part in the successful encounter against the gang of the 100 female decoited puttly by. Modi had unconventional and new ways to deal with the situation. This is the point in the story where Gubber Singh's miscalculated moves and recklessness backfire and the police finally get an upper hand. The police firstly implements a new policy wherein they request farmers to change their agricultural practices. The start of every harvesting season and chumbles brings about these interesting developments. The general practice in these areas is to cut the ear of the corn only and leave the stalk standing for providing the green border to the capital. Now you need to understand that chumble is a predominantly agricultural based area and these stalks which they leave hanging are at least a meter long and spread all over chumble provide perfect cover as a hideout for these decoits. So the police by requesting an early harvest from the farmers not only enable them to get the crops to be removed earlier but they also request the farmers to cut the stalks from the roots. What this does is take away the hideout of the decoits. There's a funny story once the police actually administers this policy that there was one decoit so struggled by the fact that his hideout had disappeared. He actually went to a court and sued the police. It's ironic that he found something illegal but he actually did that. As for deputy superintendent Modi he knew that the only way to locate gubbar's gang is to make relentless efforts at building up confidence of the people in the police hoping that one day they would lead him to gubbar. His efforts paid off. In May 1959 Modi was at the Gohar Sector Camp with the other police personnel when he noticed a fire blazing away at a distance. Upon reaching the small hamlet of the village of Guamkarpura he noticed that the entire village was on fire. The police party immediately went about extinguishing the fire and brought it under control within an hour. Meanwhile a poor scheduled cast person who was there rushed to Modi begging him to save the life of his son who was still stuck in the fires. The boy was nowhere to be seen. Without flinching Modi and remember Modi was much superior in cast according to that time's model standards as well as in rank he was the highest ranking officer present. Modi himself rushed inside and rescued the 5 year old boy of a scheduled cast peasant. Modi put the poor boy in his jeep and asked the father to rush him to the hospital. And also gave the father money to do his treatment. This person's name was Ram Charan. Ram Charan was the missing link and Modi's tactics paid off. Ok so hold on. You're telling me that Ram Charan, this random person that Modi needs in a village and helps out from the goodness of his heart has absolutely nothing to do with gubbar at this point. Oh he was an absolute stranger. This was almost like a karmic revelation taking place. So I'm guessing this is going to a point where Ram Charan is the one who's going to help Modi find gubbar and you're telling me that's purely luck. Yes, his policy completely worked. That is right out of a movie. That's the third one. While doing my research for this case, it seemed as if Sholeh could have taken this plot and been as successful because everything seems filmy. But Eshwarya, wait for what's about to come. After 25 days, guess who showed up at officer Modi's door? Ramcharan Ramcharan came to Modi to thank him for saving his son's life and in return for what Modi had done for him, gave him information about Gurbarsingh. He asked Modi to accompany him and took him by foot in the night to Dung, Gurbarsingh's village. From there, he took him to the highway, the Gwalior Bend Road. After standing there for some time, he walked another 200 yards to his village, Ghum Kapura. Ramcharan was particular that deputy Modi memorized the route as his village served as the hideout of Gurbars and his gang. Some months later, on the fateful day of 13th November 1959, Ramcharan was seen standing in Modi's house even before daybreak. Modi spoke with him through signals. He raised his eyebrows indicating whether the gang had come. Through a slight jerk of his head and movement of his eyelids, Ramcharan indicated that there they were. And understand why both of them communicated through sign languages because they were very well aware that even in Modi's house who is a high ranking official who has servants working for him, there could be informers of Gurbarsingh present such as Modi drew him aside and asked the details. Ramcharan told him. And I am trying to do this in the best Kampuri accent I have. "I have to sit down and sit down and sit down. The hideout was the same that Ramcharan had already shown Modi, which was right beside the Bind Gwalior National Highway." "Aran, I physically feel scared for Ramcharan. Like there is an image in my head where Ramcharan is standing on Modi's gate and there is someone lurking in the shadows who is about to come and shoot him. It blank before he says anything, that is so scary I fear for his life right now." "Well, Ramcharan does fear for his life and his fear for his life and his family's life compels him. Ramcharan remember a poor lower caste peasant places a condition to his superior both in stature and caste. He places a condition on deputy superintendent Modi. He asks him or rather in the most subtlest form orders him. I quote, "Finish off the entire gang. Not one man should escape as otherwise I and my family would be wiped out." Modi knew he had to act swiftly. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. To have one step ahead of the decoits meant everything to the success of this mission. A force of 300 was assembled at Gohar by 10 o'clock in the morning to fight a meager 28 such was the fear of one of the deadliest gangs in Chambal Valley. The plan was to surround the gang from all three sides and a search party was to proceed from the fourth side. It was like something out of world war to German blitzkrieg where the tanks surrounded the British troops from all side. Well, this attack was nothing short of that. They understand that the police planned on attacking the gang from all four sides. So the police had its battalions on the highway which is the Bind Gwalior highway. They had one on the opposite side of the highway and they had two flanks on the left and right side, one on the eastern hub where the railway station was there and towards the right where there was a river. Now if you want a better idea of how the police set up this attack, we have posted a picture of the entire setups map which was published in a Madhya Pradesh police exercise book from 1965 on our Instagram @dacycrime. So if you want to get a better idea, you can check it out and it will help contextualize everything. The force was sent in the direction opposite to where the gang was scamping so that even the policeman would not be aware where they were going. This was to avoid letting the quiet informers within the police from knowing the whereabouts of this attack. You see, everything was planned out by Modi. Modi and the search party of 30 men went straight towards the spot in a vehicle. The other vehicles having one or two constables each were made to park on the national highway at a distance of 40 and 50 yards. The gang of Gubber thought that by camping near the Bind Gwalior highway which is heavy traffic on a daily basis, they would almost be doing theft in a morning. You understand how you would think that stealing in the morning is unpredictable. Why would somebody do that? And so they thought by camping close to a highway, nobody would ever know where they are. But Modi knew they were there and Modi used this. He had the police vehicles parked on the national highway to make it seem like they were just patrolling the highway to check trucks and whatnot. In fact, this was a setup. A setup to fool Gubber's gang if they ever tried to escape. By then Madhousing, another deputy superintendent had also reached the opposite side of the highway just in case the gang tries to escape so that he could block them off. The search party of Modi had hardly advanced 75 yards when they noticed some black objects moving. These were the heads of the gang members who were crawling on the ground to hide from the police party. Now, Shwera, do you remember I told you about that police policy to cut the plants from their base? This is exactly when it took fruition. It paid here. Had those 1 meter long stalks of corn plants remained, you would never be able to, you know, spot heads of anybody crawling under them. But the fact that they were cut from their bottom, those heads were clear as day. The search party kept on advancing towards Gubber's gang. And the gang, not finding any chance of escape, caught up and started firing on the search party. The police under Modi immediately sprung into action and returned the fire. A moment later, about 10-12 khaki-clad decoids sprang up from their hideout and opened heavy fire on the search party. They started running towards the railway line side in their bit to escape. As they approached the railway line, the policemen positioned their open fire on the gang. As I said, they were cornered from all the sides. Two decoids tumbled down and the rest started running towards the national highway, hoping that is where they could escape from. But as they got closer to the highway, the constables sitting in the vehicles opened fire. And relentlessly chased by the search party, the gang made their final attempt to cross the bunge on the east. And buns are these elevated areas on which roads are built, you'll see this across the world. The police party covering that particular bunge fired on the decoids. They were blocked from all four sides. And finding no escape route, the remaining decoids took position in the shrubs almost in the middle of the operational area. The sun was dipping into the horizon, apprehending chaos due to cross firing in the darkness, and a likely bid by the remaining decoids to use the darkness that's about to come to plot a final escape. Modi immediately decided to charge other decoids hiding in the bushes and finish the operation before nightfall. He shouted "Attack!" Modi and the team of volunteers rushed towards the decoids. Immediately the decoids opened fire, Modi and party immediately laid down to take cover. He signaled to the head constable for a grenade and threw it at the decoids. They made a second lightning assault on the hidden decoids. The decoids kept up their fire, Modi felt the need for a second grenade to lob on the decoids. A constable nerveothed them saying "try to drag Modi to safety." But deputy Modi signaled to him for another grenade. And after removing the safety pin, with difficulty as it had got jammed due to getting rusted, Modi held it for two seconds after releasing the lever and then threw it. With lightning speed he made the third assault on the hidden decoids and shot at the shrubs where they were hiding with his light machine gun almost as if he was Tony Montana in a mafia or so fashion. To make things more filmy, all the traffic on the national highway came to a stop. Even trains took a halt to observe one of Madhya Pradesh police's greatest hours. Men climbed on the roofs of the buses and train and were witnessing the whole operation. They were cheering the police party with shouts of "Maro, Maro, Maro, Maro Haramzadoko, kill, kill, kill the bastards." The gubercing encounter was a unique one in the sense it was carried out in full view of hundreds of people who were witness to the daring and courage that goes into encounters with dreaded decoids. And who more dreaded than gubercing. Modi reached the spot where some decoids lay dead. He kicked off the weapons which were in their hands. hands. Gubber saying the nose chopper, the man who murdered 30, the man who kidnapped 31, the man who chopped off the noses of 26 people was lying there, badly injured. His jaw was totally smashed because of the grenade thrown at him and his breath was passing through the slit in his neck. There was seven or eight decoits near Modi that are breathing their last. Any injured decoit who moved received a light machine gun burst. Gubber breathed his final breath. Modi stood there with the hair of Gubber singing one hand and the LMG and the other. Modi fired in the air gun to signal the end of the operation. The sun had by then set completely. It seemed as if the sun, the people, the trains, the buses were waiting for the final assault to be over before going below the horizon completely. 11 decoits were killed including the Lare Singh, Gubber's close aide and Gubber Singh himself. Unfortunately two out of the four kidnapped boys were killed. For his valour Rajendra Prasad Modi was recognized by the award of the president's police and fire services marry for gallantry. His comrade Madhav Singh, another deputy SP was given the Indian police marry for gallantry. And of the 50,000 rupee bounty, Ram Charan, the key in all of this was given 5,000 rupees which is equal to almost 50,000 rupees today. This memorable dangerous intricate and filmy encounter with one of the most dreaded decoits of Chambal Valley took place on 13th November 1959. 14th November, the next day was Prime Minister Nairu's birthday. As a good friend, the better general of Madhya Pradesh, KF Rustamji decided to give the Prime Minister this news as a birthday gift. This is how momentous this occasion was. Later even the brave SP Madhav Singh gave Rustamji Gubber Singh's hair as a memento of this chapter in their lives. This was the story of Gubber Singh. Let's end this episode with a scene from the movie that best symbolizes the real Gubber Singh. The real Gubber Singh who was sinister, raunchy, feared maniacal. The real Gubber Singh was indeed a Gubber. The real Gubber Singh was indeed a Gubber Singh. Thank you.