The majestic puja mandap at Tuiladungri. Picture by Uma Shankar Dubey

Jamshedpur, Sept. 30: What is common to some of the “toughest” guys in the city, besides money and muscle power. A new-found spirituality— an unshakeable faith in Goddess Durga — to help them through on the road to redemption.

Flip through the police files and the names of the die-hard devotees tumble out one by one. Arvind Singh alias Malkhan Singh, Dulal Bhuiyan, Upendra Singh “Mastan”, Lakhi Gaur, Raju Giri and so on.

The police had implicated all of them some time or the other for murder, extortion and arson. Mastan, Gaur and Giri were part of notorious gangster, Hidayat Khan’s group. Both of them are in jail at present.

Malkhan has been associated with Durga puja for over two decades and organises asprawling puja in front of his residence in Adityapur. Similarly, Gaur and Mastan are the moving forces behind an opulent puja in the Mango area.

Dulal Bhuiyan, a former don-turned-politician, calls the shot at the Bhuiyadih puja mandap. Giri is the main fund-raiser for his puja at Tuiladungri.

Both Malkhan Singh and Dulal Bhuiyan are now legislators. While the former is a local BJP heavyweight, the latter is a vocal JMM activist, espousing the cause of the slum-dwellers. Mastan is a Congress worker and happens to be the Saraikela-Kharsawan district president. Giri is associated with JMM and although Gaur has not joined any outfit, he has saffron leanings.

Committee members with which the former goons are associated with admit that fund-raising is not a problem. “A letter or a phone call from ‘Sir’ is enough. The subscription reaches the organiser on time,” a puja committee member in Mango said.

When the patrons cool their heels behind bars, the puja committee feels the heat. Unlike previous years, the Tuiladungri puja that Giri is associated with, is a low key affair this year. Reason— the chief fund-raiser is languishing in Bhubaneshwar jail.

However, Gaur dismissed allegations of arm-twisting in raising funds for the pujas.

Malkhan has no fixed budget for puja. “We spare no expense in worshipping Durga ma. We spend according to our needs and later we assess how much we have spent,” he says. The “reformed” gangster, however, denies intimidation in raising funds.

“But why puja?” The reply is candid. “We want to forget the past and need divine blessings for it,” Gaur says.