After Phoolan Devi, another woman bandit leader is ruling the ravines of Chambal.
Sadhna Patel (30), born in a village in Uttar Pradesh, is turning out to be another notorious outlaw from the Chambal region, spread across three States — Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
In the last few weeks, the gang led by Sadhna Jiji (a colloquial term for sister) has been involved in several incidents of kidnapping, extortion, and armed robbery, prompting the Madhya Pradesh’s Satna district police to announce a reward of₹10,000 on her head.
“We decided to announce the reward after a case of abduction was registered against Sadhna Patel at Nayagaon police station,” said Santosh Gaur, SP, Satna.
Sadhna and her gang members have been booked under IPC sections 364A, 342, 324, 149, 120B, section 25-27 of Arms Act and section 11(13) of Madhya Pradesh Anti-Dacoity Act, said a police officer. The bandit and her gang started operating in Madhya Pradesh only recently. Earlier, she was active in the ravines of Uttar Pradesh.
Sadhna had joined the bandits as a member, but after the head of the gang was killed, she rose to become the leader herself, said the officer.
Being a local, Sadhna is well aware of the uneven ravines of the Chambal valley. She has managed to evade arrest by slipping into remote hideouts and crossing the State border after committing a crime.
Recently, the bandit and her gang members were forced to release a landowner's son they had kidnapped for ransom after the police started closing in on them, the officer said.
Madhya Pradesh's Morena and Gwalior districts and Budelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh have produced the maximum number of dacoits in north-central India in the last five decades.
Among the most popular dacoits from the region is late Phoolan Devi, also known as 'Bandit Queen'.
Phoolan became the symbol of rebellion in Chambal when she allegedly massacred 20 upper caste men in Uttar Pradesh's Behmai in February 1981, to avenge her gang rape at the hands of the Thakurs in the village.
After spending two years in hiding, she and her gang members surrendered before the Madhya Pradesh government in February 1983.
She never faced any trial for the Behmai massacre and was released after spending 11 years in Gwalior Central Jail. She later joined the Samajwadi Party and was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996.