For 27 years, the man who had once stood in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) formation in an ironed uniform lived in mustard robes with his hair growing into long locks. A white beard covered the face of the young constable he had once been.
Then, last week, Baba Girvar Das walked into a barber's shop. The locks came off first. Then the beard. A few hours later, the saffron robes were gone too.
In their place were a crisp CRPF uniform, a cap and a pair of freshly polished black shoes.
At 54, Girvar Singh Tomar has become a uniformed man again.
Between those two uniforms lay 27 years, a disputed bicycle, a dismissal, endless court hearings, temples, akharas, a guru's advice, two married daughters, a son who joined the forces and a faith that Tomar says he never allowed to die.
A Bicycle Accident
It began with something almost absurdly small. A bicycle.
Tomar, a native of Chhichhawali village in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district, joined the Central Reserve Police Force in 1991. He was serving in Assam when an incident near a market eventually altered the course of his life.
His recollection of that day remains vivid.
Speaking to NDTV after his return to service, Tomar said he had been returning from the market after delivering food when an incident involving a civilian's bicycle was reported.
"I was posted in Assam. I was returning from the market after delivering food when, at a turn near the market, my vehicle brushed against a man's bicycle, causing him to fall," he said.
Asked whose bicycle it was, Tomar replied, "It belonged to a civilian. This happened a long time ago in Assam."
According to Tomar, the civilian complained that his bicycle had been damaged. "When asked, I reported the matter to the officer. The man, however, alleged that I knocked over his bicycle," he recalled.
What followed, he says, was disciplinary action. "They told me to undergo a medical examination. I did. They proceeded with disciplinary action, and I was subsequently dismissed from service."
The Beginning Of Nearly 3 Decades Long Legal Battle
Tomar has consistently contested the allegations that led to his removal. After nine years in the CRPF, his career had abruptly ended. But he refused to accept that the dismissal would be the final word. In 1999, he approached the High Court.
Little did he know the legal battle would outlive almost everything around him.
Years passed ... his children grew up ... his daughters were married ... his son eventually entered uniformed service himself as an Agniveer.. and Tomar changed too.
Jobless and uncertain about where life was taking him, he began spending time with saints and ascetics. By 2001, he had become associated with the Nirmohi Akhara. Girvar Singh Tomar gradually became Baba Girvar Das.
The former CRPF constable exchanged khaki for the robes of a sadhu and spent much of the next two decades living and serving at religious places, including Bara Dwari and Gufa Mandir. He says he spent most of those years in Prayagraj and also lived for a few years in Chitrakoot.
Asked by NDTV how a CRPF man had become a Baba, his answer contained no anger about the lost years. "After losing my job, I sought refuge with the saints the sadhus," he said. "I felt that salvation lay in their presence that no matter what mistakes one has made, surrendering to them guarantees redemption."
Then came the advice that would define nearly next 27 years of his life.
"A guru advised me to live amidst the dust of the saints' feet and serve them, assuring me that my path would clear." Tomar believed him. "With that faith, I served there for 26 years visiting my parents occasionally and eventually, Lord Hanuman and Lord Bhole answered my prayers."
But while Baba Girvar Das prayed, Girvar Singh Tomar continued to litigate. His case moved through the courts with the slow rhythm familiar to long legal battles. In 2007, Tomar received a ruling in his favour. The CRPF, however, obtained a stay and the dispute continued.
Years became decades. The man who had entered court as a relatively young former constable kept returning as his beard turned white. Then came another decisive order. In 2025, High Court ruled in his favour, holding that he had been illegally dismissed and directed his reinstatement.
Few days back, CRPF authorities complied with that order, after 27 years of fighting, the court battle finally translated into something tangible - a uniform.
Return To Service
Tomar will retire in 2030, giving him only a fraction of the active service that might have been his had the dispute not consumed nearly three decades. Others recruited with him, he points out, have risen through the ranks, some reaching the level of Inspector. Tomar has returned lower down the ladder. He is presently a constable on the basis of the reinstatement process and is expected to complete the prescribed course before becoming eligible for promotion to havildar.
Yet when he speaks about returning, rank appears to matter less than the fact that the uniform has returned at all.
His body, after years of ascetic life, is not what it was when he first joined the force in 1991. Tomar says officers now tell colleagues to allow "Baba" some rest because of his physical condition. That nickname has travelled with him from the akhara to the battalion.
And perhaps that is why his return has brought unusual happiness in two very different worlds. Inside the CRPF, an old colleague has returned. Inside the community of saints, one of their own has finally won the battle he carried silently for decades.
"The people who know me are even happier than I am," Tomar said, especially the saints with whom he spent so many years.
