The sensational heist on the Salem-Chennai Egmore Express in 2016 has brought to public attention the evolution of Mohar Singh from a small-time thief to a kingpin.
Interrogation of the accused by CB CID revealed that main accused Mohar Singh, 38, is a native of Khejrachak village in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. The investigators said he had no formal education. He has three brothers and three sisters. His paternal uncle Premda Pardi had seven sons —Kiran, Sangaram, Rusy, Mahesh, Basu, Ameen and Dharam. They, along with a few other relatives and friends, were travelling as a gang, committing offences in many States, including Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Kiran used to lead the members of this gang.
Kiran, along with his brothers Sangaram, Rusy, Mahesh and a few others, were involved in a case of murder for gain in Jammu and Kashmir in 2006, in which five members of a family were brutally murdered and property was looted. The Jammu and Kashmir Police arrested all of them between 2007 and 2010 while Kiran was absconding. Kiran died in a police encounter in 2012.
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After completion of trial in 2015, Sangaram was sentenced to death, while Rusy and Mahesh were acquitted. Rusy and Mahesh were in jail for almost seven years during the trial before being released in 2015.
During this period between 2006 and 2010, Mohar Singh emerged as leader of the members of the gang in the absence of Kiran and his brothers. Mohar Singh had developed an enmity with Ruksad Pardi and Naval Pardi as he suspected that they were passing on information to the local police about the offences committed by his gang. Mohar Singh shot dead Ruksad Pardi and Naval Pardi during an altercation in June 2015. Mohar Singh, his brothers Ramboojan and Gajraj, sister Sulochana, wife Banwara Bai and a few other members of his gang were involved in these murders.
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As the local police were searching for him, Mohar Singh went absconding and moved to south India along with members of his gang. Mohar Singh and his gang had camped in various places of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry before committing the robbery
A senior police officer of CB CID told The Hindu , “Our investigation revealed that the Pardi gang were involved in crime for a long time. Even the fathers of the present suspects committed similar thefts and robberies. The court permitted us to conduct test identification parade. It will be conducted with seven suspects in the presence of a magistrate and witnesses soon.”