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of the criminals, Sleeman had already created amethodology based on history sheets, gang historysheets, village crime note books, convictionregister, etc. and used them against the Thugs andDacoits. In 1829, Sleeman sent a report to CurweenSmith, agent to Governor General at Sagar, to beforwarded to the Government. It proposed a needfor a more efficient police establishment, and thecreation of out-posts along roads. Besides physicalmeasures, he mentioned that the existing judicialsystem was inadequate to deal with the challenge,and that only with the evidence of the approversand informers, was conviction possible. As Thugsliving in native states enjoyed immunity, herecommended their trials at one place. In August1830, Bentinck accepted the recommendations,ordering liberal rewards to informers and brandingof convicted Thugs on their back. The finger printsystem had not come in vogue. The practice toemploy spies as an extra ordinary measure todeal with extra ordinary crimes like Thuggee,was suggested in 1810 by O. W. Steer, whowas Assistant to the Magistrate of Etawah. TheGovernment approved of the use of spies assuggested by Steer, acknowledging that it was anecessity in Police work. The expenses for thepay of spies was to be listed under the heading‘Secret Service’. Bentinck impressed by the reportasked for a master plan. Sleeman prepared a blueprint, namely, a ‘Plan’ for the eventual destructionof the association of Thugs infesting centralIndia. For some reason Smith, the agent to theGovernor General delayed forwarding the Planto Bentinck. Sleeman resorted to an un-orthodoxmethod to expose Thuggee to the public eye. On3 rd October, 1830, Calcutta Gazette published anarticle anonymously sent by Sleeman, exposingthe gruesome deeds of Thugs. People in Calcuttawere shocked. Bentinck immediately agreedfor the creation of a separate department withSleeman as its first Superintendent. After 10 yrs ofhard labour, Sleeman’s course was set, with extrapowers and resources at his disposal to destroythe secret societies of the Thugs.Act XXX of 1836 made convictions possible,even for association with the Thug gangs. Thislegal carte-blanche was extended to all the Britishprovinces. In the meantime, Sleeman worked ontwo projects, one to complete genealogical tableby removing discrepancies, by cross checkingwith police and revenue records. With it, the entirehereditary tree of the Thugs was completed. Thesecond project was the completion of his book,the secret language of the Thugs ‘Ramaseena’, forthe benefit of the investigating officers to identifythe Thugs in public places.In 1835, to coordinate and collate recordsof over a dozen offices of superintendents,working all over the country, a post of GeneralSuperintendent was created and Sleeman wasthe first choice. By then he had been promotedas a Major with Headquarters at Jabalpur, toconcentrate solely on Thuggee operations. Thiswas the first attempt by a Central authority tocollate and disseminate Intelligence to all fieldofficers. It goes to the credit of Sleeman that helaid the foundation of the present IntelligenceBureau, as a constitutional body, as per VIIschedule of Indian Constitution. A small cell fora "Special Branch" was established in 1887, as bythat time the Thuggee and Dacoity department hadmore or less ceased to exist. In 1904, on FrazerCommission’s recommendations, a CentralCriminal Intelligence Department, under an IGwas created, in line with the provincial CID tocollect, collate and communicate information,under condition of frank and cordial cooperation,between the Centre and the provinces, withouttaking away the responsibilities of the localGovernment. Later the word criminal wasdeleted and thereafter the bulk of the Intelligencecollected was no longer related to criminalactivities only.In 1835, due to deterioration of his health,Sleeman was releuctantly granted leave but wasreappointed as General Superintendent in 1836.After dealing with the river Thugs of Bengal,Sleeman, in 1838 would proudly report thatfrom 1829 to 1837, the total number of Thugstried were 3266. The massive conviction bearstestimony to the high standard of evidencecollected by Sleeman before he sent any personfor trial. Though subdued activities continued inthe native states and the Punjab, the trunk of theThug fraternity had been destroyed. It was only aquestion of time before the branches would also6The Indian Police Journal, October - December, 2012, Special Issue