BHOPAL: Katilon ke Kaatila, a 1981 Bollywood thriller, has left a lasting impression on the mind of Dugwan Singh of Pattha village in Panna district. So much so that Singh, a Pardhi, named his son Kaatil Singh and then went on to name his daughter Kaatil Bai.

Nomenclature is a serious business for members of Madhya Pradesh's Pardhi tribe , formerly classified as a criminal tribe notorious for poaching. Hidden behind a good number of names, is a legacy of international poaching .

Shooter Singh, an accused in the infamous Gir poaching case of 2007 — now settled in Panna — named his daughter Lhasa, which is the capital of Tibet and a hub for the sale of tiger skins and bones.

"The Pardhis have abysmally low literacy levels yet they know about Lhasa...it's surprising," says Indrabhan Singh Bundela, the field officer of WWF's Pardhi project. Under the project, Bundela is carrying out an extensive survey on the tribe settled around tiger reserves and national parks in the state.

Lhasa is 14 and goes to school in Mhouakheda in Panna's Sai Nagar block. Shooter admits that he knew the place; hence, he named his daughter after it. Sources say he had visited Lhasa at least thrice before being caught on charges of poaching, by forest officials.

There's a Hotel Singh — another notorious tiger poacher — in Sagoni village of Katni district and Congress Singh, also a poacher from Katni.

Other interesting names include, Rocketlal, Petrol Singh, and America Bai from Jabalpur and a Jarkin Bai from Mhouakheda in Panna.

Rubber Singh, who died at the age of 110, two years ago, fathered 52 children from his seven wives and gave unique names to each one. The youngest one is 10-year-old Rifle Singh.

Bundela says that he had been trying to change names of the children at the school for the last four years. "I could change only 20 names so far. In most cases their parents are not ready, though the children are willing," he says.

Dugwan Singh — father of Kaatil Singh and Kaatil Bai — is one of them. "He says names cannot be changed once they are declared within the community," says Bundela.

Some of the names, he says, are influenced by movies. So we have a Salman Singh and his brother Shahrukh Singh, 9 and 10 years old. "I am surprised by the names they decide upon, for their children. Their children would find themselves in embarrassing positions growing up with these names," he says.

A school for Pardhi children started at Panna in 2007 on WWF's initiative with the help of Panna Tiger Reserve and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan , is making efforts to convince the tribesmen to stop giving unusual names to their children.

Meanwhile, Pardhi's of MP are back in focus with arrest of three members in Maharashtra on Sunday. The accused — said to a part of 30-member gang from Katni district in MP, have already confessed to have killed five tigers so far. They are being interrogated for links with international syndicates.