The British officer most closely associated with the suppression of the Thugs (organised gangs of highway robbers and stranglers) in the 1830s was:

The campaign to suppress the Thugs in central and north India in the 1830s was led by Captain (later Major-General Sir) William Henry Sleeman.

Who were the Thugs?

The Thugs were organised gangs who travelled along highways disguised as ordinary travellers or pilgrims.

They befriended other travellers, then strangled them, usually with a yellow cloth (rumal), and robbed them.

They buried the bodies secretly, so that the victims simply disappeared.

They had their own secret language (ramasi) and signs.

Many Thugs claimed to be devotees of the goddess Kali (Bhavani).

The word "thug" has entered the English language from Hindi.

Sleeman's campaign:

• Sleeman set up a special department, with its headquarters at Jabalpur.
• He used captured Thugs as informers ("approvers"), who identified other members of the gangs.
• He collected detailed information about the gangs, their methods and their language.
• Hundreds of Thugs were arrested and tried; many were hanged, imprisoned or transported.
• By the early 1840s, Thuggee had largely disappeared.
• A school of industry was set up at Jabalpur for the families of reformed Thugs.

Sleeman's other work:

• He wrote "Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official", a valuable account of life in India.
• As Resident at Lucknow, he wrote a report on the misgovernment of Awadh.
• The village of Sleemanabad, near Jabalpur, is named after him.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Thomas Munro was linked with the revenue system of Madras.
• ✗James Tod wrote the "Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan".
• ✗John Malcolm was a soldier, diplomat and historian of central India.