INDIAN POLICE KILL FAMOUS BANDIT

Nov 8, 4:32 PM (ET)

By BISWAJEET BANERJEE

LUCKNOW, India (AP) - One of India's most dreaded and colorful bandits has been shot to death by police in the forests of central India, ending a nearly three-decade career in crime that included murders, kidnappings and looting, police said Tuesday.

Nirbhay Singh Gujjar - a frightening figure with a handlebar mustache, long beard and bloodshot eyes - was killed Monday night in a police ambush that ended in a shootout, according to senior superintendent of police Akhilesh Kumar.

"We raided the area with two local villagers and were able to gun him down," he said.
Gujjar, 64, led one of the few remaining bands of outlaws, known as dacoits, who for centuries have roamed the forests and ravines of Chambal in central India, and whose exploits have been romanticized in several Bollywood movies.

Some were portrayed as horse-riding murderers and rapists, and others as warmhearted Robin Hoods.
Had a movie been made about Gujjar, he would have fallen in the first category, being wanted in 177 criminal cases, with a reputation for womanizing and love of alcohol.

He was also known to be a tech-savvy, cell phone wielding bandit who courted the media and had procured several flak-jackets and night-vision goggles for his escapades. It was his use of cell phones that led police to him through electronic surveillance, Kumar said.

Gujjar was married three times - the first time to another dacoit, Seema Parihar, whose life provided the script of a Hindi movie, "Wounded."

His downfall began after his second wife Munni eloped with a gang member. Singh tracked them down and shot both to death. He then married another woman, Neelum, but began an affair with a teenage girl, Sarla.
To hide the affair, he had a key gang member, Shyam Jatav, marry Sarla. But Jatav and Neelum gave themselves up to police after finding out about Gujjar's relationship with Sarla.

In August, with his gang reduced from 72 members to six because of infighting and pressure from security forces, Gujjar tried to strike a surrender deal with authorities. It fell through when Gujjar demanded to be made a ruling party candidate in general elections.

Gujjar, debilitated by diabetes and high blood pressure, was forced into a life on the run in the ravines of Chambal.
"The last Lion of Chambal," as he was known, "finally fell victim to a police bullet," The Times of India daily said Tuesday.