Dhan Singh Gurjar

Dhan Singh Gurjar, also known as Dhunna Singh, was the Indian kotwal (police chief) of Meerut, who participated in the 1857 rebellion. many of whom joined the rebellion against British rule in 1857.

Role in the 1857 rebellion

On 10 May 1857, a rebellion against the East India Company rule broke out in Meerut during the 1857 uprising. As the kotwal of the city, Dhan Singh's job was to protect the city. However, many of his officers deserted his force on that day, either to join the rebellion or to escape the rebels' fury. The city saw large-scale rioting, plunder and murder. When two of his chowkidars (guards) apprehended two men for stealing horses, he asked them not to make arrests, fearing reprisals from the rebels. Around midnight, he was called to the house of a Bengali man, which was being plundered by a huge group of armed rioters. Dhan Singh's chowkidars arrested two of the plunderers, but Singh restrained them from using force against them. He then released the two men with the loot, after the group agreed to go away.

Singh was later hanged by the British authorities for his role in the uprising. "Dhan Singh Kotwal Community Centre", the campus community centre of Meerut University, is named after him. The Dhan Singh Gurjar Mahavidyalaya in Loni, Ghaziabad is also named after him. Samajwadi Party's (SP) National President and the former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav addressed a gathering and unveiled the statue of Kotwal Dhan Singh Gurjar, at Mawana, 20 kilometres from district headquarter Meerut. An arterial road running through the Sarita Vihar area of New Delhi is named after Kotwal Dhan Singh.