Thuggee

Here I had the pleasure of meeting Lieutenant Ward, one of the suppressors of Thuggee (_Thuggee, _ in Hindostan, signifies a deceiver; fraud, not open force, being employed).

Himalayan Journals — Complete 1864

The predecessor of India's CIA was known as the Thuggee and Dacoity Department.

Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine 2003

The occasional discovery of murdered beggars, who could not have been killed for the sake of their property, leads me to suppose that the Megpunnia variety of Thuggee, that is to say, murder of poor persons in order to kidnap and sell their children, is still sometimes practised.

Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official William Sleeman 1822

"Thuggee," we all know, though it will bear repetition here, was in full operation all over India from very early times, but at the beginning of this century it engaged the serious attention of the

Prisoners Their Own Warders A Record of the Convict Prison at Singapore in the Straits Settlements Established 1825 W. D. Bayliss 1869

India, "Thuggee," like piracy in Cutch and in the Persian Gulf, would revive at the shortest possible time.

Arabian nights. English Anonymous 1855

He had done more than any one to suppress 'Thuggee' finally, and had a knowledge of the Indian character and language possessed by very few.

Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official William Sleeman 1822

The religion of murder known as 'Thuggee' was established in India some centuries before the British Government first became aware of its existence, It is remarkable that, after an intercourse with India of nearly two centuries, and the exercise of sovereignty over a large part of the country for no inconsiderable period, the English should have been so ignorant of the existence and habits of a body so dangerous to the public peace.

Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official William Sleeman 1822

The Government of India agreed to this proposal, with the proviso that pardon should be conditional on convicts not returning to India, or in the case of Burmese to Burmah, without the special sanction in each case of the Government of India; and that this sanction would not be given in any cases in which the crime was "Thuggee" or "Dacoity," or robbery by administering poisonous drugs, or other form of organized crime, or in the case of mutiny or rebellion accompanied with murder.

Prisoners Their Own Warders A Record of the Convict Prison at Singapore in the Straits Settlements Established 1825 W. D. Bayliss 1869

Stranglers and Bandits: A Historical Anthology of 'Thuggee'

London Review of Books 2009

So I had to look at the past, and the early Victorian period coincided with the suppression of Thuggee in India.

Author tells of India's ordinary thugs Margherita Stancati 2011