Ajmer/Jaipur: Notorious interstate Chambal dacoit Jagan Gurjar, 50, one of the most feared criminals across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, was found murdered in his barrack at Rajasthan’s high-security jail in Ajmer Monday afternoon.Gurjar, a resident of Bhavutipura village under Sone Ka Gurja police station in Dholpur district, was found unresponsive around 3pm, when guards entered the barrack after failing to get a reply despite calling out his name several times.He was later pronounced dead by a jail doctor.A judicial inquiry has been ordered into the incident, while a medical board has been tasked with conducting the post-mortem. Ajmer police have also registered an FIR in the matter.“From a preliminary inspection of the crime scene, it appears to be a case of murder,” said Ajmer SP Harsh Vardhan Agarwala.“Our investigation has found no indication of gang rivalry. Rather, the death appears to have been the result of a personal, one-to-one scuffle, as only one other inmate was lodged in the barrack with Jagan,” he added.The SP and his team inspected the barrack and questioned jail officials, while a forensic team examined the crime scene. Gurjar’s body was later shifted to JLN Hospital and kept in the mortuary under tight security.Sources in the jail said the killing appeared to have stemmed from personal enmity rather than gang rivalry.“No gang was involved, and hardly anyone interacted with Jagan,” a guard at the high-security jail said. “His barrack mate Vishnu Jat (29), who was in the spotlight after killing gangster Kuldeep Jaghina in Bharatpur in 2023, often had clashes with Jagan over criminal supremacy,” he added.Sources in the police department said no external injury marks were observed on Gurjar’s body, though there were signs that indicated a possible strangulation.A towel allegedly belonging to Vishnu was recovered from the barrack and seized. Statements of other inmates were recorded, though none pointed towards gang rivalry, the sources added.“The death of inmate Jagan Gurjar in judicial custody is being inquired into as per prescribed laws and rules,” DG (Prisons) Ashok Kumar Rathore said, adding that the inspector general (Prisons) has been directed to visit the jail and review security arrangements.Officials said Gurjar, regarded as one of the last notorious Chambal dacoits, had 128 criminal cases registered against him across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.“His criminal record included extortion, abduction, intimidation and several other serious offences,” a police officer said. He was lodged in the Ajmer jail in connection with a case registered earlier this year at Kotwali Bari police station in Dholpur on charges of assault and criminal intimidation.Gurjar had surrendered to police three times after emerging from the Chambal ravines in Dholpur’s Dang region – a rugged terrain along the Rajasthan-Madhya Pradesh-Uttar Pradesh border that has historically served as a refuge for generations of dacoits.The first FIR against him was filed in 1994. At the height of his notoriety, his threat to demolish the palace of then chief minister Vasundhara Raje during the Gujjar quota agitation of 2008 was taken seriously enough to trigger a major security response.This is the first murder reported inside Rajasthan’s high-security jail in Ajmer since it opened in 2015 to house the state’s most dangerous criminals. Gangster Anandpal Singh and members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang have been lodged here.Dholpur police, meanwhile, have tightened security in anticipation of Gurjar’s body being brought to his native village for cremation Tuesday.
