New Delhi:
He inspired Bollywood with his jaw-dropping robberies in homes and showrooms across India, but Devinder Singh alias Superchor Bunty now claims to be a reformed man. Working as a detective on probation, he wants to earn respect and marry a "decent girl".
"I always wanted to be a detective since childhood, but circumstances led me to a totally different track. Now that I've started a new life, all I'm bothered about is earning some respect and settling down soon," 36-year-old Bunty told IANS in an informal chat.
"Once I set my life, I'll think about marriage and probably marry a decent girl next year," he said in a low but confident tone.
It was Bunty who inspired the National Award winning film "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" directed by Dibakar Banerjee.
After being in and out of prison for 13 years, he was last released from Amritsar Central Jail June 15. He has been hired as a detective for Sanjeev Deswal's Aaider Detection and Protection Pvt. Ltd.
"My training is going well and I'm liking it. I am being taught how to tackle a case, different categories, location tracking, background work, tracing, how to use presence of mind, computer work, research and development, etc," said Bunty, who has studied till Class 7.
Police gave him the sobriquet of 'superchor' for his compulsive and audacious thefts for which he displayed an unbelievable presence of mind. Originally from Delhi, Bunty the thief struck all over India - be it in the national capital, or Chandigarh or Chennai or Bangalore. He is even believed to have travelled to Nepal and China on fake passports! He was known to regularly stay in five-star hotels as a thief.
Media reports still mention anything from 300-550 cases against the thief-turned-detective.
"These figures are false," said Bunty insisting there were never more than 50 cases against him. He was convicted in some, but was released after serving his term, he said.
Sunil Gupta, spokesperson of Tihar Jail where Bunty was lodged for almost three years, on the other hand, also says there were around 54 cases against him.
Gupta thinks Bunty's transformation is a facade.
"He can't be a detective or anything else. He only wants to be in the spotlight like always. Most of the news about him is a media creation and not true. He is not that intelligent. At times he even used to have day dreams and hallucinations during his stay at Tihar," he said.
Bunty admits that his family comprising his parents, grandmother and two brothers is not willing to take him back. His brothers live in west Delhi's Vikaspuri area.
Nevertheless he now rides a legally obtained new Hero Honda bike and has all his expenses managed by his current employer.
He also wants his share of the Bollywood pie.
"(Filmmaker) Ram Gopal Varma asked me for my life story before Dibakar but I didn't give it. I had reservations and no knowledge about such matters then. But Dibakar then took the story from me and others in the jail," said Bunty.
"I was in Mumbai recently for a case study and I called him up for some compensation as the movie worked on my name. Dibakar told me he is in London and will talk to the producers (UTV Motion Pictures) once he returns to pay me something.
"I informed him that my advocate was going to file a case against them but he requested to hold on. I am going to ask for anything between Rs.1 and 1.5 crore and if nothing happens, I'll take legal action," he added.
Rumour mills are also abuzz that he would appear as a contestant on reality show "Bigg Boss 4". Bunty, however, dismissed the speculation.
"These are all baseless rumours. I don't want to talk about it," he said.
"There are other channels like News 24 that approached me for a show on crime. They were even talking of paying me around Rs.20,000-25,000 per week, but I have asked them for some time till may be next year... Zee News also called me for a show, but nothing happened," he added.