Duo who chased Udaipur killers for 30km now heroes

JAIPUR: Shakti Singh and Prahlad Singh of Taal village near Lasani in Rajasthan's Rajsamand district received a phone call from a police friend just after they finished watching on June 28 afternoon a viral video of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal Sahu's gruesome beheading.
The caller sought their help to track the two assailants, Gaus Mohammed and Mohammad Riyaz, who were fleeing on a bike with the registration number RJ 27 AS 2611 from Udaipur hours after the murder. They were somewhere between Deogarh and Bhim in the district-an area where Shakti and Prahlad live.
Within 20 minutes of the call, the duo spotted the bike from a bus stand where they were standing and alerted police. They immediately took off on a bike, on being asked not to lose sight of the suspects. They tailed the suspects for more than 30km in the rugged rural belt of the Aravallis, and were in contact with the cops the whole time, narrating each twist and turn.
Gaus and Riyaz tried to intimidate them with the same cleavers they used to behead the 40-year-old man. Shakti and Prahlad didn't baulk. In no time the suspects rode into the police net.
Shakti and Prahlad became instant heroes and their fearless chase has entered Rajasthan's storeyed tales of heroism.
They met chief minister Ashok Gehlot in Jaipur on Monday evening as part of a delegation that had Bhim MLA Sudarshan Singh Rawat and Rajput Karni Sena national president Mahipal Singh Makrana.
"We requested the chief minister to give Shakti Singh and Prahlad Singh government jobs, may be in police," said Makrana.
What spurred the duo to put their lives in the line? "They had killed a man brutally and their arrest was necessary. Thankfully god chose us for the task and we could do it. There was no fear as we were keeping a safe distance," said Shakti, who rode pillion and kept in constant touch with police. "They were smart and took remote roads through smaller villages. But we are locals," said Prahlad.
Meanwhile, Kanhaiya Lal's assistant Ishwar Gaur has been discharged from hospital. Police guards are posted outside his home.