GWALIOR: When he turned 16, 'Daku' Malkhan Singh was already 6 feet 2 inches tall. "My mother would say: The boy doesn't eat but has a body of steel," he recalls. Today, the former dacoit, once known as the "

of the

" is 74 - an upright, gregarious figure complete with booming voice, flowing hair and a blazing red tilak drawn across his forehead. "All my life: no alcohol, no paan, no tobacco," he bellows, "that's why I don't need spectacles or dentures."

Malkhan Singh surrendered in 1982. He now lives a

on his farm in Guna with his family. As MP is swept up in election fever, Malkhan says some of today's netas are the real "dakus", that they are "high-tech dakus".

"We were baaghis, rebels, not dakus. Imaandari ki ladai thi. We fought for the rights of workers and farmers and those humiliated by caste abuse. Today netas have so much money they seem to have machines printing cash in their homes."

Balwant Singh Tomar, nephew of another infamous Chambal dacoit Paan Singh Tomar, became the sardar of his uncle's gang after Paan Singh was killed in a police encounter in 1981. 'Balwantta' as police called him, is equally disillusioned with politicians. "There is no justice for the peasant as patwaris and thana prabharis have too much power over them. The mandi adhyaksh (farmers markets' head) is always related to politicians and takes away farmers' incomes."

Balwant remains in awe of his uncle, Paan Singh Tomar. Says he: "He was a sher. Even snakes ran scared of his footfall. The police were able to kill him only after a night-long encounter."

Former IPS officer Vijay Raman was SP Bhind in 1981-82. Raman was the gallantry medal winning dacoit-hunter who not only pushed Malkhan to surrender but also masterminded the 1981 encounter in which Paan Singh was shot dead. Raman, now retired, remembers the Gwalior-Chambal region as a caste-ridden, unjust society, which often turned individuals into dacoits.

Recalls Raman: "Malkhan Singh was a Robin Hood figure, popular among villagers who called him 'dadda'. Paan Singh was different - more of a daredevil out to fight injustice." Raman says the dacoit surrenders of 1982 were carried out by the

government for political mileage. Politicians had always used dacoits for their own purposes and maintained close links with some.