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There, through intensive touring and interactionwith the villagers, he protected them from the‘Zulum’ of the administration, by prompt redressalof grievances and thereby earned the good willof the people. His report to the government onagriculture, horticulture, administration and tradewere favourably commented upon by the Boardof Directors. He showed how dangerous it wasto run the show, sitting at the district and subdivisionheadquarters and thus laid the foundationof ‘tent-touring’ and its benefits for the future civiland the police officers. Humane treatment ofprisoners and their families earned him the trustand good will which helped him in later yearsin his battle against the Thugs and dacoits andalso set an example for jail reforms. It was againat Narsinghpur that he came to know, in 1831,that a gang of Thugs lived not even 400 yardsfrom his Cutchery (Court), and that the groves ofMundesur, some 12 miles off Narsinghpur, wasone of the greatest ‘Beles’ or places of slaughterin India. While at Narsinghpur, he also got ataste of the Badhak dacoits after they successfullycommitted a bold dacoity, hardly a few pacesfrom the police chowki, after very cleverlyduping the check-post staff and disappearing inthin air. Sleeman did not sit quiet after this affairand started investigations regarding the Badhakdacoits. In later years, when he was appointed todeal with them, Sleeman already had collectedample record.In 1824, Sleeman was promoted as Captain, anddue to ill-health went on leave to the South seasand the Mauritius island. On coming back in1825, he was temporarily attached to Jabalpurto help Molonny, his senior who gave him somecourt work to do. It was at Jabalpur that Sleemanmade a thorough study of the Thugs, with thehelp of one Kalyan Singh, an ex-convict, whomhe had once helped. Kalyan Singh, of his ownaccord informed and exposed a gang of thirtyThugs, who had been released, as the huge stolenproperty could not be traced to their owners.Moti, Kalyan’s brother turned an approver andon his information, 27 bodies were recovered,just a few miles from Jabalpur town. Moti wasspared and others were tried and convicted. Tillthat time, no special laws had been made toconvict the accused on the basis of informationof the approvers. Act XXX 1836 had not beenenacted and Sleeman taking advantage of thenon-regulatory territory, applied its laws freely.Moti taught Sleeman the secret language of theThugs, the ‘Ramasee’. Documents related toThug dialect were circulated through out CentralIndia, which were of great help in investigations.At Jabalpur, Sleeman personally interrogated,and cross-examined Thugs and recordedtheir statements in his own hand. He createdinformers and approvers by releasing them onthe condition that they help him in catchingother criminals. By that time he had collectedenough information and material for his book“Ramaseena”, giving graphic description of theorigin of and the language of the Thugs. Till thenno officer had attempted such an independentstudy. Sleeman continued to send reports to thegovernment along with suggestions and steps tocombat this form of crime. By this time Sleemanhad come to the conclusion that Thuggee waslike a big tree with branches, trunk and roots andthat with patience and creation of genealogicaltree of the Thugs, the root could be cut, by whichthe whole tree trunk and branches would comedown. He also learnt about the revenge of Thugsagainst informers and approvers. It was Moti, theThug, who suggested setting up of reformatoriesfor the Thug approvers and informers and theirfamilies, thereby providing them with usefulemployment, security and prevent recidivism.Open settlements were created at Sagar andJabalpur which grew into big villages. The Kanjarmohalla called Gurandi is still there in Jabalpur.It was at Jabalpur that Sleeman took a bolddecision to open a reformatory out of his ownfunds. ‘The School of Industry’, as it was called,did good work in making various arts and craftslike blankets, cotton durees, niwars, woollencarpets, bricks, baskets, etc. They were marketedlocally and to the government offices. Goodmoney was earned by this honest profession bythe Thugs. On a request by Queen Victoria, acarpet measuring 40’x80’, weighing 2 tons, wassuccessfully made for use in the Windsor Castle.The above experiment was in later years followedin various ways. The salvation army started itscamp at Moradabad for the Bhatu criminal tribesto which the notorious dacoit, Sultana belonged.4The Indian Police Journal, October - December, 2012, Special Issue