जिंदगी से इतना सिखा की
एक डाकू पुजारी बन गया
कभी चंबल में जिसकी दहाड़ गूंजती थी आज सत्संग में अध्यात्म के शब्द गूंजते हैं। उस समय 556 डाकुओं के सरदार थे और आज हज़ारों अनुयायियों के गुरुजी। कभी 100 कत्ल के आरोप में फांसी तक की सजा हुई थी और अब लोगों को जीवन का मूल्य समझा रहे हैं। भारत सरकार द्वारा दो करोड़ रुपये का इनामी डाकू पंचम सिंह आज राजयोगी भाई पंचम सिंह हैं और लोगों के मन को परिवर्तित करने में अपना जीवन व्यतीत कर रहे है। राजयोगी बनने के बाद राजयोगी देशभर में बीते 45 सालों से अध्यात्म की अलख जगा रहे है।
चंबल के बीहड़ों में दहशत के रूप में कुख्यात पंचम सिंह जमीनदारों के सताने पर परिवार का बदला लेने के लिए डाकू बने। पंचायत चुनाव के दौरान एक पक्ष का समर्थन करने पर विरोधी गुट के लोगों ने उन्हें व उनके परिवार के लोगों को इतनी बेरहमी से पीटा कि लंबे समय तक अस्पताल में भर्ती होना पड़ा। इलाज के बाद जब गांव लौटे तो ग्रामीणों पर उत्पीडऩ शुरू हो चुका था। विरोधी गुट हावी था। हर किसी का जीना दुश्वार था। बदला लेने के लिए 12 साथियों को साथ लेकर चंबल के बीहड़ों में कूद पड़े और डाकू बन गए। डाकू माधो सिंह व डाकू भोर सिंह से भी मिले। बदले की भावना में कई हत्याएं भी की। करीब 14 सालों तक आतंक का पर्याय बने रहे। भाई पंचम सिंह बताते हैं कि वे 556 डाकुओं के सरदार बन चुके थे। 1970 में भारत सरकार ने उनपर 1 करोड़ रुपये का इनाम रख दिया। उन्हें पकड़ने के लिए सेना भी भेजी गई लेकिन भेष बदलकर वे किसान बन गए और बच निकले। 1972 में तत्कालीन प्रधानमंत्री इंदिरा गांधी के कहने पर लोकनायक जयप्रकाश नारायण ने उनसे बातचीत की तथा समर्पण के लिए कहा।
अपनी 8 शर्तों को मानने पर उन्होंने 556 साथियों के साथ समर्पण कर दिया। भोपाल के मूंगावली में खुली जेल बनाई गई तथा वहीं पर कोर्ट भी लगी। 100 हत्याओं के आरोप में उन्हें फांसी की सजा सुनाई गई। जयप्रकाश नारायण ने राष्ट्रपति के समक्ष अपील की जिससे उनकी सजा उम्रकैद में तब्दील हो सकी। अच्छे व्यवहार के कारण 8 साल बाद ही वर्ष 1980 में उन्हें रिहा कर दिया गया।
अध्यात्म से बदलीं राहें
समर्पण करने के बाद जब पंचम जेल में सजा काट रहे थे, तब प्रजापिता ब्रह्माकुमारी ईश्वरीय विश्व विद्यालय की मुख्य संचालिका दादी प्रकाश जेल आईं थीं। उन्हें इंदिरा गांधी ने चुनौती दी थी कि डाकुओं का मन बदल कर दिखाएं। तीन सालों तक जेल में ही प्रवचन हुए और दादी जी की प्रेरणा से पंचम सिंह व उनके अन्य साथी अध्यात्म की ओर चलने लगे। आज पंचम सिंह 95 साल के हैं और राजयोगी बनकर जी रहे हैं। आज वे 500 जेलों, 2 लाख गांवों व देश के तमाम राज्यों में लोगों को अध्यात्म की राह बता चुके हैं।
96 वर्ष की अवस्था में अब देश भर में विशेष तौर पर जेलों में जाकर बंदियों और कैदियों से संपर्क करके अपनी गाथा सुनाकर दिनचर्या में परिवर्तन कराकर आश्रम से जुडने का आह्वान कर रहे। पंचम बाबा ने कहा कि डकैत रही फूलन देवी को भी समर्पण कराया गया था। इसी का नतीजा है कि वर्तमान समय में चंबल घाटी में एक भी डाकू नहीं रह गया है। उन्होंने कहा कि एकबार उनके साथी ने एक किसान की बेटी के साथ गलत कर दिया था तो उसे खुलेआम जिंदा जला दिया था।
Born on April 14, 1924 in north-central India, He was just 14 and was peacefully living with my newly-wed wife and parents in my village in Madhya Pradesh. There were Panchayat elections in the village and I was beaten up mercilessly as the other group suspected me of being part of one group. My parents pleaded with them to allow me to be taken to the hospital. No police complaint was allowed. I came home after 20 days and was again beaten up by this other group. One day I just lost my cool, took 12 friends and went to Chambal to become a dacoit. When I came back, I killed six people on Day One. Revenge had blinded me,” recalls Chauhan who is still agile and doesn’t need spectacles for his daily chores.
Known as Pancham Dakait, Chauhan went on to kill more than 100 people and over 200 cases of dacoity were registered against him. So dreaded was he, that the police had offered to pay Rs one crore towards reward for giving information about him.
He had over 550 dacoits in his gang. “We were the rulers. No police, no politicians could ever even think of touching us. We made and broke governments,” Chauhan said after his function at the College of Agriculture.
But then he was always filled with guilt and subjected himself to penance in his own ways. He was a devotee of Goddess Durga and once decided to kill himself if the goddess didn’t turn up for guidance. “I saw a man in white clothes in my dream three days later who told me he will take me away from the world of violence. In three days, JP made the appeal and I decided to surrender,” says Chauhan.
He laid down eight conditions before the government. No capital punishment for him and his gang members, no harassment of his family members, education for his kids, open jail so that he could stay with his family, land for tilling so that he could lead a respectful life after he was released from jail were some of the conditions. His death sentence was thus reduced to a life term and it was his good behavior during jail stay that he was out in eight years.
Since then, Chauhan turned into a good man he had promised he would be. He turned to spirituality and became part of a religious cult that puts women on a higher pedestal than men.
“I can’t stand men who commit atrocities against women. One of my gang members raped a woman and I shot him in head. My blood boils every time I hear instances of rapes and atrocities against women,” said Chauhan who still can’t hide the rebellious streak in him.
He was given a five-acre farming plot by the government on which Chauhan has now built a plant nursery and a garden. Today as he talks to youths on importance of education, values of unity and controlling anger, his audience listens to him in rapt attention. Chauhan today is the Sage Valmiki of the yore.
Our gang of 550 dacoits had three leaders Mohar Singh, Madhav Singh and I and the then union government had put a cash prize of Rs 1 crore on our heads in 1965. We had a one-point agenda to help the poor and oppressed villagers and tribals of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
Owing to full public support from the local population, it was impossible for the police in those days even to touch us but one day we unanimously decided to shun violence and lead a normal life," said Chauhan.
Married at 14, he was living a peaceful life with his newly-wed wife and parents hailing from a family of landlords at their native village in Madhya Pradesh. "There were panchayat elections at the village and I was beaten up mercilessly as the other group suspected me of being part of rivals.
My parents pleaded with them to allow me to be taken to the hospital. No police complaint was allowed. I came home after spending 20 days in hospital and was beaten up again by the other group. One day I just lost my cool, and went to Chambal to become a dacoit.
When I came back, I killed six people on Day One. Revenge had blinded me," he recalls without any expression of anger or anxiety.
An agile Chauhan fairly recalls how Indira Gandhi had readily accepted their eight-point condition before surrendering.
"Besides demand of no capital punishment to any of the dacoits and permission to live their respective families in the open jails, we had put a condition to rehabilitate all of our victims so that we could repent our past deeds," said the dacoit-turned spiritual teacher, adding that he was charged with killing 100 people, besides involved in 200 cases of kidnappings and dacoities. Pancham and his men took over a hundred lives, and government had announced Rupees 2 crores as bounty against the dreaded dacoit. There was no turning back for Pancham and his men, until Jayaprakash Narayan came to Chambal and persuaded them to give up arms.
He surrendered in 1972. The court had sentenced him to death, but the punishment was later changed into life imprisonment. Following JP's intervention, the death sentence was commuted into life imprisonment and After 8 years, the remaining sentence of Pancham was waived due to good movements. he was finally released in 1980. He came out of jail as a reformed person. During that time, the members of Brahmakumari sect imparted special education to the jail inmates and he emerged as a changed person.
Since then, he has been spending time with students and jail inmates, spreading the message of peace and non-violence, asking them to learn from his mistakes.
Pancham Singh Chauhan now 98, who was once a feared dacoit of the notorious and dacoit-infested Chambal Valley in India with Rs 10 million bounty on his head, is in the country for a month long visit to attend various events and programmes where he is expected to share the story of his transformation from a dacoit to a peace activist and encourage the youths to walk in the path of peace instead of violence.
A self-proclaimed “peace crusader”, Pancham was just 34 years of age when he became Chambal’s main dacoit leader.
During an event organised by Brahmakumari Ishworiya University, Taulihawa on Tuesday, Chauhan shared the story of his transformation and stressed that a change of attitude and positive deeds were necessary “for achieving mental peace and well-being”.
Stating that nothing good can come from hatred and discord, Chauhan said that a person should try to give his/her life a sense of purpose and work towards the good of mankind to be able to achieve peace and serenity.
Chauhan, who met with people from all walks of life in Taulihawa, including inmates at the District Prison and border security personnel of the Armed Police Forces, said that a person’s life would be complete and meaningful only if he is able to adopt Buddha’s teachings.
Against biopics on outlaws
The ex-dacoit dislikes the idea of shooting films on the lives of dacoits. "Cinema has always given a false life of dacoits to the public.
I remained an outlaw for nearly 14 years and never saw any dacoit using horses. We all had jeeps fitted with red beacons and we were heavily armed with 303 and self-loading rifles (SLRs)," he said, while adding that he had turned down offers of several filmmakers who wanted to shoot his life on the big screen.
He said that dacoits had a high moral ground where they collectively worked against the social nuisance. Chauhan said that 10% of the loot was offered for charity and the gangs maintain herds of cattle to help the tribal and poor villagers.
"None of our gang had any assets as the cash and kind collected in the loot was disbursed among the poor. One of my gang members raped a woman and I tied him with a tree and shot him in the head. Do we have the politicians who maintain same level of morality that we, the outlaws, had?" he asked.
Ramdev and Veerappan connection
Chauhan recalls that in 1965 when his gang organised a yajna for "universal wellbeing", yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who was barely 17 at that time, was one of the ritual performers.
"Iss jadi-booti wale baba ki habhut izzat thi. Barhmchari tha aur sab log unko bahut puchte the," he said.
Chauhan also claims to have played a role when Kannada actor Rajkumar was kidnapped by sandalwood smuggler Veerappan. "Woh (Veerappan) mera chela tha.
Chambal ke dinon me woh hamare hi saath tha," he said, while advocating moral values. "Violence will not lead anybody anywhere. Only peace will ensure wellbeing of the humankind," he said.
Awarded death penalty following his surrender, Chauhan said that the then Indian President later granted him a pardon, overturning the death sentence to life in prison. This became a turning point in his life as it made him realise that if one strived for good, he/she will be rewarded sooner or later.
“I made a bad decision in a fit of rage, but I am happy that I was offered a second chance,” Chauhan said.
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