CHAPTER XXVIII 



A veteran police inspector — Some of his exploits — Tulia Naik — A famous 

 dacoit leader — Small beginnings — First arrest — Escapes from his 

 escort — Forms a gang — A terror to the neighbourhood — Baffles the 

 police — Inspector on his track — The tables turned — Captures the 

 inspector — A drinking bout — The inspector's opportunity — A clever 

 re-arrest — Convicted — An apparent reformation — Return to crime 



— Final surrender — Transported for life — Sir F S r — A 



notable police officer — Rising of the Bhils — Babajee their leader — His 



arrest attempted — Refusal to surrender — Captain H of the poUce 



shot dead — Escape of the gang — Subsequent pursuit — Sir F S r 



in command — The gang marked down — Disguised as a native — Babajee 

 found bathing — Captured in the water by Sir F S ^r — A re- 

 markable achievement — Many of the gang secured — Importance of 

 the capture — Comphment paid by the police — Relation between the 

 miUtary and poUce — Commissioner of Pohce, Bombay — A lakh of 

 rupees offered as a bribe — The offer indignantly refused — Strange 

 action of the Government — Sir F S r and an American globe- 

 trotter — His anxiety to see the man who had refused so large a bribe 

 — Enquires if true ! — His astonishment when convinced — " Guess you 

 Britishers will keep India ! " 



I HAVE in a previous chapter given an account of my 

 experiences with a famous leader of dacoits whose exploits 

 and arrest had given me so much trouble, that I had 

 imagined at the time, that as a criminal career, his must 

 have surpassed any ever heard of before. 



But I found I was mistaken, for while stationed at 

 Poonah, I came across an old inspector of mine, Hafizullah, 

 a splendid specimen of his class, being over six feet three 

 inches and broad in proportion. During his long service 

 in the force, he had had many strange experiences with 

 criminals of every kind ; amongst them one, Tulia Naik, 

 a notorious dacoit, whose arrest he had finally accom- 

 plished and in a most sensational manner. 



It seems that this individual had started his criminal 

 career in quite a mild sort of way, but wine and women 

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