Buddha Singh fought a legal battle against the police for 15 years, taking them to court for killing his physically-challenged son Raj Narain in a fake encounter.

On September 12, when a court in Etawah awarded life sentences to 15 policemen in the case, 80-year-old Buddha Singh was relieved. “I have won justice for my Sua Baba (that’s what they called Raj Narain at home). This was the only thing I could do for my beloved son.”

From Dadra village under the Chakar Nagar police station of Etawah district, Singh said his fight was not just against a few policemen, but against the system.

“I made it my mission to see the guilty policemen behind bars,” he said. “That’s the only thing I wanted to see before my eyes shut forever.”

The family’s entanglement in violence has made Buddha lose three of his five sons — the third was Raj Narain, killed by the police. Buddha says it all began when he sent his two younger sons, Ram Kumar and Rajiv Kumar, to study at the government polytechnic in Datia, Madhya Pradesh. They lived in a rented room there but one day, Rajiv, then 20, was killed, allegedly by members of a family living opposite them.

Buddha Singh says his other son Ram Kumar tried to get a case lodged but was turned away. Frustrated, he killed two members of the family he wanted booked. After that, he took to arms and established a gang that came to be known as the dreaded TNT gang. It let loose a reign of terror across the Chambal in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

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