Managed to read a book completely
Thug: The True Story of India's Murderous Cult
The book basically explains who the "Thugs" were and how the British (mainly one officer Capt. Sleeman) managed to get them out of India's roads. I did not find the book to be biased against any group (British or Indians). Few thoughts which stuck in my mind, after reading the book.
The "Thugs" had a very different modus operandi which differentiated them from the highway robbers. The highway robbers (especially in countries like UK) robbed the travellers using the threat of violence. The thugs, used deceit to lure their victims. The highway robbers was focusing mainly on loot, once they got what they wanted they spared the victims. The thugs killed their victims (by strangling), and then focused on getting the valuables from them. The thugs used to act as travellers themselves and infiltrate a group of travellers from even multiple way points. They had their own slang language, by which they all ganged up with their victims not knowing about this. So this group seems to be much more dangerous, crooked and vile than the typical "highway robbers".
It was not that the identity of thugs was kept secret. There were landlords and small time petty kings who encouraged the thugs to setup villages in the places owned by them. All for a share in the loot which these folks would be bringing by killing innocent people. The thugs were also careful enough not to commit crimes in 10-20 mile distance from their own native villages. The victims often were people from far away lands (special preferences were for the
Seths who operated village banks, thus had to ferry money & then native soliders going on leave). Because of which, their death often was not reported for weeks together. After reading about this, I got reminded of some highway robberies which happened in Coorg & Mysore districts in last couple of years. Wayfarers robbed during the night, with the local police actively conniving with the crooks. But what I could understand from the book is that during 1800s, a common language, common religion etc. did not help people look beyond their immediate boundaries and consider others as fellow human beings.
The book has in focus more of thugs who operated in the Narmada, Jabalpore, Jhansi regions of India; but also mentions that thugs also existed in Deccan & Telengana! The book then talks about in detail of how Capt. William Sleeman had this criminal gang in his focus, and how he went ahead and served justice to them. May be a case of the first
"big data analysis", he actually got a custom map made which places of all thuggee crimes & murders marked. He also marked the villages which was confirmed to have thugs. Using this map he could use his very small force of
Najeebs (mounted policemen), at the right places near the crime hotspots. The
Seths (once
Seth had lost three of his money transfers to thugs) also started spending some money to get people to start hunting down suspected thugs. Some such
"detectives/bounty hunters" actually managed to identify the thugs involved and recover the loot from them. Many such thugs identified also became the first set of approvers for Capt. Sleeman. He & his team also maintained excellent records of the crimes suspected to be done by thugs. So each approver's story (of crimes) was also cross checked with the already made records. Then the entire structure of thug gangs and their
Jemadars were identified.
Once the identities were confirmed, the
Najeebs did the rest. They toured villages after villages and picked up the suspects. The british had then introduced a new law which also helped the trials against thugs to be conducted in the Company's court (and not at the local rajah's court). Many people were surprised to see that some of the most unsuspected people were actually thugs. Case in point was a British officer who had a loyal manservant, who even took care of his small children. He only took a month's leave in order to meet his old mother. But Sleeman's records proved that during that one month he took to thuggery.
The trials had a specific pattern. Thugs proven (through multiple witnesses) to be involved in more than one murder, was sentenced to death. One proven murder, got transportation for life (with a tatoo of "Thug" placed on the face). Other minor activities as part of thuggery, got very long prison sentences in Indian territory itself. The executions were generally done in public, by hanging (short drop). But the book sights lots of eye-witness accounts which says that there were no case of the thugs actually appearing remorseful or shaken. They strangled people, and it was okay for them to die in a similar fashion.
The connection of thugs & religion is also explained in detail in the book. And it clearly states that thugs were not a religious sect, and their activities were NOT based on any religious book or requirement mandated by religion. There were Hindus & Muslims who were into thuggery. For these people, it was just a job which helped them increase their otherwise meagre income. But all of them were superstitious, and like any average Indian did some worshipping rituals before they started on their killing campaigns. These rituals were essentially Hindu in nature, but even Muslim thugs participated in this. But such rituals were just like what many Hindus in other professions also do before they start important activities. For the thugs, the "patron god" was
"Bhowanee/Devi" who Capt. Sleeman and gang assumed to be
"Goddess Kali". The book records about a Muslim thug from Deccan who was arrested, and he readily admitted that for him Prophet Mohammed and Islam was the most supreme, but when it comes to thuggery he did pray to
"Bhowanee/Devi" !. The book also admits that for British & other Europeans, Indian land and its culture was still a very strange thing, and it was also natural for the "story writers" to come up with stories on thugs which was customised to suit the demands of their readers in Britain & Europe.