Thuggee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir William Henry Sleeman (August 8, 1788 - February 10, 1856) was a British soldier and administrator in India.
He is best known for his suppression of the Thuggee secret society, becoming superintendent of the operations against them in 1835, and commissioner for the suppression of Thuggee and Dacoity in 1839. During these operations, more than 1400 Thugs were hanged or transported for life. One of them, Bahram, confessed to have strangled 931 persons with his turban. Detection was only possible by means of informers, for whose protection from the vengeance of their associates a special prison was established at Jabalpur (at the time Jubbulpore). Thuggee (or tuggee, ठग्गी ṭhagī) (from Hindi ठग ṭhag ‘thief’, from Sanskrit स्थग sthaga ‘cunning’, ‘sly’, ‘fraudulent’, ‘dishonest’, ‘scoundrel’, from स्थगति sthagati ‘he conceals’)[1] is the term for a particular kind of murder and robbery of travellers in India.