₹2 Lakh Admission Fee: Inside Madhya Pradesh’s ‘School’ for Criminals

Bhopal: Three remote villages in Madhya Pradesh’s Rajgarh district – Kadia, Gulkhedi, and Hulkhedi – have gained notoriety as hubs for training children in criminal activities like theft, robbery, and dacoity.

Located around 117 kilometers from Bhopal, these villages have become infamous for grooming minors into professional thieves, with parents paying as much as ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh for this illicit “education.”

Children as young as 12 or 13 are enrolled by their parents, who negotiate with gang leaders to secure the best “training” for their offspring. After a year, these children, now trained criminals, bring their families an annual payment of ₹3 lakh to ₹5 lakh from the gang leaders.

The villages have produced some of the most notorious criminals in the country.

On August 8, a minor thief from Kadia stole a bag containing ₹1.5 crore worth of jewellery and ₹1 lakh in cash during a high-profile wedding at the Hyatt Hotel in Jaipur. The minor and his gang fled back to Rajgarh and attempted to blend in by participating in a religious pilgrimage. However, swift police action led to the arrest of the minor and exposed the entire gang.

This incident is not isolated. The district’s criminals are known for their expertise in assessing the value of jewellery without professional appraisal and for training children to commit various crimes, including theft and bag lifting.

According to Additional Director General of Police Jaideep Prasad, coordination between state police forces has been crucial in addressing these crimes, but the deeply entrenched criminal culture in these villages remains a significant challenge.

Over 300 children from these villages are reportedly involved in thefts at weddings across multiple states.

These gangs, highly organised and secretive, conduct thorough reconnaissance before executing their crimes. Wealthy individuals within the villages often bid up to ₹20 lakh to “hire” poor children for one to two years of criminal activities, after which the children are released with substantial earnings.

With more than 2,000 individuals from these villages implicated in over 8,000 criminal cases nationwide, the scale of this operation is staggering. Despite the police’s best efforts, the villages remain hostile to outsiders and resistant to scrutiny, perpetuating a culture of crime that has become deeply rooted in the region.