Jaipur:
Wrestlers of Haryana and Delhi are famous for dominating charts at international events. But pahalwans of Rajasthan aren't too far behind. They too monopolise a list of their own, albeit of the notorious kind.
Police records available with DNA reveal that grapplers dominate the list of criminals wanted by the state police. More than 30% -- 52 out of 157 -- of the criminals on the run from the police are wrestlers.
Says Vikas Kumar, former SP of Dholpur, the breeding ground for a majority of these wrestlers-turned-fugitives, "Many criminals on our wanted list started out as professional wrestlers or bodybuilders. They were regulars at local akharas before turning into law-breakers."
But this does not imply that wrestlers routinely turn against the law. Most continue to pursue their passion and bring pride and honour to the state. Just a handful of them take to crime. Take, for instance, Udaipur's Homa alias Chokala, who carries a reward of `50,000 on his head. In his youth Homa was well-known for flooring his opponents. Now he allegedly kills for a quick buck. Homa and his two sidekicks-both wrestlers-are wanted by the police for a string of crimes. Big the biggest 'celebrity' of this renegade brigade is notorious bandit Jagan Gurjar. Gurjar, who surrendered recently, was a lion on the mat before he morphed into a terror of the Chambal ravines.
A senior cop said that most of these criminals have the biggest asset required for terrorising people-a burly physique. "Their muscular build gives them the confidence to bully others and often extort money. Soon they spiral down the world of bigger crimes." Politicians are also to be blamed. "They hire these scary-looking people during elections for all kind of work. Once the wrestlers taste easy money, they find it difficult to shrug off the tag of local henchmen," he said.
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