In December 1847, Maheput and his gang attacked the house of Motee
Lal Misser, a Brahmin, in the village of------, and after robbing it
of all that it contained, he seized and carried off his nephew, Ram
Deen, a boy of seven years of age, and tortured him for a month in
the jungle.  He then cut off his left ear and the forefinger of his
right hand, and sent them to the uncle in a letter, stating, that if
he did not send him one thousand rupees, he would send the boy’s head
in the same manner.  The boy’s father had died, and his uncle, with
great difficulty, prevailed upon his friends and neighbours to lend
him two hundred and twenty rupees, which he sent to Maheput, and his
nephew was released.  The boy declares to me that Maheput cut off his
ear and finger with his own hands.*

[* This boy was present, as a witness, at the trial of Maheput.]

In June 1848, Forsut Pandee, of Resalpandee-ka-Poorwa, in Rodowlee, accompanied Girwar Sing, a Rajpoot of Bowra, in Rodowlee, to Guneshpoor, on some business.  They were smoking and talking together at the house of Mungul Sing, Thakoor, a large landholder of that place, when five of Maheput’s armed men came up, and told Forsut Pandee to attend them to their master.  Girwar Sing remonstrated and declared that his honour had been pledged for Forsut Pandee’s personal safety.  Mungul Sing, Thakoor, however, told him, that he must offer no opposition, as they seized all travellers who came that way, and it was dangerous to oppose them.  He was taken to Maheput Sing, in his fort at Bhowaneegur, situated half a mile from Guneshpoor.  Maheput told him that he had heard of his having a good flint gun, and a shawl in his house, and that he must have them.  Forsut Pandee swore on the Ganges that he had no such things.  He then had him tied up to a tree and flogged him with his own hands with thorny bushes, the scars of which are still visible.  He then demanded a ransom of three hundred rupees, and had him flogged and tortured every day for a month, while he gave him to eat only half a pound of flour every two or three days.  The prisoner’s brother, Bhoree Pandee, sold all the clothes and ornaments of his family, utensils, and furniture, and their hereditary mango and mhowa grove, and raised two hundred and six rupees, which he sent to Maheput, through Baldan Sing, a landholder of Bharatpoor, two miles from Guneshpoor.  On the receipt of this Forsut Pandee was released.

In October 1848, Maheput Sing sent ten of his gang to seize a cultivator, by name Khosal, who was engaged in cultivating his land in a hamlet, one mile south of the town of Syudpoor.  They seized and bound him and took him off to their leader, Maheput, who had him tortured for a month in the usual way.  He had him tied up to a ladder and flogged.  He had red-hot irons applied to different parts of his body—­he put dry combustibles on the open palms of his hands and set fire to them, so that he has lost the use of his fingers for life.  For