So, I meet Bunty Chor again

This time he was a free man. So, all crime reporters were waiting for Bunty at the Lodhi Road Police Station on Thursday. I was the odd one out. I had met Bunty a year ago when we managed to meet him in the prison. I had given him my number then.
Bunty walked in. He looked at me. Then he said "chinki?"
I hollered "Bunty Chor"
And that was all that was needed. I spoke to him for a few minutes. He said he wanted to be good again. I said it is good to be good again. He asked me if I had cut my hair. I said a little. He said he remembered me. He asked for my number. I scribbled it on a piece of paper and handed it to him. Maybe I will see him again.
An edited version appeared in the Indian Express on Friday, June 25, 2010.

Chinki Sinha

New Delhi, June 24, 2010

From the futuristic submarine he had wanted to build, the one that would also crisscross the skies last year when he gave his imagination a free run, Bunty Chor aka Devender Sharma, now 39, after he was released from Tihar Jail last week, is now hopping on to the city buses, trying to start afresh. He is a nobody now. From the madman who rambled about having been to heaven and how peaceful it was compared to the cramped quarters of the jail where he thought everyone was out to get him, Bunty is now saner but a worried man.

The lovable, suave thief who ruled imagination, and even inspired film scripts like Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, a movie that chronicled his whimsical style, is looking for a regular job, anything that would help him lead a straight life.

“ It's not easy. But at least it is not as bad as jail. I am happy to be a free man again,” he said. “I just need a chance.”

As he walked into the Lodhi Road Police Station on Thursday evening, he didn't look like his former self. At Tihar, when we had met him last year, he had looked shrunken, his collarbones were prominent, his eyes sunken. Here he was in his bleached hair, a red cap and a matching red Polo T shirt and blue jeans. His brother's gift, he said.

But his brother Balvinder Singh said he didn't buy him the clothes. He said he didn't want to keep his brother. Not after the family attempted to try to reform him twice earlier.

“ We can't keep him anymore. He always runs away,” he said. “I don't know where he is staying. Probably at the police station itself. But no, our doors are closed for him.”

Ever since he was released, Bunty, a Class IX dropout, has been coming to the police station hoping the man who nabbed him in 2002 and 2007, the cop who understood him and who he confided in telling him about all his exploits, his weaknesses, would help him lead a straight life. But for the cop, who can't stop talking about the unusual thief, it is like walking on a tightrope. In 2006, Bunty had promised him he would stop stealing and live an honest life. After he was released from jail in 2006, when he promised Singh he would lead a straight life. But after cars being stolen were reported from Defence Colony and Malviya Nagar in south Delhi, SHO Rajinder Singh knew it could be none other than Bunty. He was later arrested from a house in Noida. It had been a dramatic episode. The police broke into the house but not before Bunty had called the Police Control Room saying some goons had got into his house. The two sets of police argued and it took sometime for Singh to convince them how the suave looking man who had pictures of his wife and children displayed all over the house was indeed a conman and the photos were of another man's wife. Finally, Bunty was arrested. He had given the police a slip thrice before.

Singh still swears by Bunty's good and moral character. He said he is not a violent man. When he had arrested him, the super chor asked him not to slap him, he had asked for a chair and like a respectable man, admitted to his wrongs. More than Rs. 5 crore worth of goods were recovered from his instance. Later it was all distributed.

Leaning against the chair in his office, Singh’s eyes wander. He is waiting waiting for Bunty. Earlier in the day, Bunty called him and said he would be coming to meet him. Bunty is now staying with his elder brother in Vikaspuri. His family had first denied him saying they didn't want him to return. His tag of a thief would not rid of so easily.

Bunty was released from Tihar on May 30 and was then taken to the Amritsar Central Jail and released finally on June 14. He had already served three years in Tihar's Jail No. 4, a high security prison, for burglary and theft. He had at least 550 cases against him. Most of them were cases of unusual theft – a parrot, cutlery, a little dog who caught his fancy.

“ Bunty had a typical style. He stole only what he liked,” he said. “Girls loved him. He was in love and that's what led to his mental state. The girl is now married. Bunty when he came back tried to meet her but I guess she refused.”

The clock struck 4:30 p.m. Bunty had said he would be at the police station by 3 p.m.

“ This is his test. But I know he will come,” Singh said.

At 5 p.m. Bunty walked in. He was on the bus. It took time, he said.

“ For a man who drove expensive cars, even owned one that he fitted with gadgets, this is proof enough that he is trying hard to be good,” Singh said.

On Jun 15, a day after he paid the Rs. 2000 fine imposed by a sessions court in Amritsar, Bunty called Rajinder Singh. He wanted to meet him. The same day, Bunty Chor walked in with a little bag. He looked worn out. Singh got him a pair of shirt and trousers, then fed him lunch. For fours hours, the thief and the cop who had put him behind bars spoke about his life, his recovery from the mental illness, and his future.

That night Bunty stayed at the police station. He had nowhere to go. On the following night, he spent the night at his friend's house.

The Lodhi road police station is not new to former convicts staying and helping out with chores. Twenty-one-year old Abdul Wahab ,who was arrested for burglary after he ran away from Gujarat, is now an errand boy at the police station. The police officials are helping the young man with his studies, contributing to pay his fees. In return, Wahad runs errands for them.

But with Bunty, it isn't easy. He is an intelligent thief and you got to be cautious, Singh said.

“ He is trying to reform. But we are watching him. I am trying to get him some sort of a job but it is difficult given his reputation,” he said.

Singh has been approaching his friends, acquaintances, anyone to help out Bunty. He feels he has a responsibility towards the thief who wants to live a decent life.

“ My only worry is that if he doesn't get anything soon, he may turn to burglary again and that would not be good for us and the society,” he said. “I hope somebody would come forward.”

In fact it was Singh who called Bunty's elder brother asking him to give Bunty a second chance. The man was trying to make amends, he said.

All that Bunty had amassed is no longer there. He was duped by his friend, and then his lawyer, Singh said.

“ He has nothing,” he said.

Nobody will confirm where Bunty is staying. Bunty said he is living with his brother and would be helping out with his spare parts business but his brother denies the story.

Bunty had once told Singh he could help out a private detective agency, or assist the police with cracking burglary crimes. Now, he wants to get a passport and drive cabs in Japan. But he can't get a passport or a visa. He is having trouble getting a driving license with all his past records, Singh said.

“ Someone at some point will have to trust the man. Someone will have to give him a chance,” Singh said. “Maybe Dibakar Banerjee should compensate him. At least he could start some business with him. They made a story on his life. The crew came to my office to do research. They even went to meet Bunty in Tihar.”

Bunty said he would like the director to acknowledge him, maybe give him a role in one of his movies.

But then the man's past has already paved his future path with doubts.

“ What is the guarantee? We are extending help. Where is the process of rehabilitation? We think he doesn't want to indulge in crime. But who can be sure,” Singh said.