Gold treasure hunt: Know who Raja Rao Ram Baksh Singh was

New Delhi: Raja Rao Ram Baksh Singh is in news after a sadhu's dream that 1,000 tonnes of gold was buried in the remains of the Raja's old fort in Daundiya Kheda village of Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh. Raja Rao Ram Baksh Singh was martyred in 1857 during a fight with British rulers during the sepoy mutiny. On June 4, 1857 Nana Sahib's troops crushed the British army in Kanpur after which the British contingent reached Unnao. British solders fled and hid in a temple of Buxar after Raja Rao Ram Singh challenged them. The Raja ordered to burn them alive inside the temple after they refused to come out. Enraged over the incident, an angry General Hope Grant lured one of Raja's pupils Chandi and arrested him. On December 28, 1857 Raja Rao Ram Baksh Singh was hanged to death in open near the banyan tree at the Shiva temple. Raja Rao Ram Baksh was a rich landlord and gold trader. He owned a jewellery shop in Kanpur. British historians describe him as one of the perennial buccaneers and outlaws from the Gangetic plain who joined the rebels only to loot enemy camps. Tales of Col Sleeman's encounters with similar bandit princes lend the story some credence. None, however, knows how rich the Raja was, nor if he buried his gold in his village when the battle shifted from Lucknow to Baiswada. A Hindi book, Ghadar Ke Phool by Amrit Lal Nagar published a century later, describes the Raja as controversial. A 73-year-old Rajput chieftain, Thakur Ran Daman Singh, from nearby Manpur who swore loyalty to Rana Beni Madho spoke dismissively to the writer about the Dhaundhiya Kheda Raja who didn't fight the battle on his turf but chose to escape. According to him Raja Ram Baksh was keen to escape because he feared British retribution for the killing of several officers in his village Shiva temple. When Rana Beni Madho arrived at his village with the British in hot pursuit, Ram Baksh left telling the Rana there was enough food in his fort for three to four years should his army be besieged. Dhaundiya Kheda had been witness to a macabre incident when some British officers (including Sir Mowbrey Thomas who later wrote about the killings and identified the culprits) arrived while fleeing the rebels. They were in charge of 40 boats carrying British women and children to safety from Kanpur, most of which were shelled and capsized. A dozen of them swam ashore and hid till dark among the trees. At night they ventured out to locate their boat but it had drifted away. They locked themselves in at the Dhaundiya Kheda Shiva temple. When villagers saw the trampled flower beds near the temple and the idols outside, they tried to torch the shrine. The besieged broke out waving their guns. Several persons were shot dead in the combat. Four, Sir Mowbrey, Delafosse and privates Murphy and Sullivan, swam to safety. They rejoined their army and ensured the villagers and Ram Baksh were punished. It was never known for sure if he was involved in the killings, but with mutiny passions running high, if the rulers wished to remain loyal to the British, they'd have been lynched. After the reprisals began, Ram Baksh was found hiding far from his village. But loyalty to native rulers remained strong, so no villager from his area agreed to identify him. Two men from neighbouring villages confirmed his identity. Sentenced to death, the Raja was hanged from a tree with another rebel to become, willingly or otherwise, a martyr. One story about the secret of the treasure in the fort which is prevalent in the area is that Raja Ram Singh had two daughters. He imposed a condition that he would marry his daughters to the person who had more wealth than him. According to the Raja his would be son-in-laws should have wealth more then a man sitting on an elephant with a harpoon on it. He loved his daughters very much and built two castles named Bitian. Unfortunately when the British invaded the kingdom both his daughters committed suicide by jumping into the river Ganga. The British tried very hard but failed to locate the buried treasure meant for the Raja's daughters' dowry.