Mar 282012
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Baba Baghel Singh |
Sardar Baghel Singh’s army invaded Delhi first time on January 18, 1774 and captured the area up to Shahdra. In February 1764, 40,000 Sikhs under the command of Baghel Singh crossed the Yamuna and captured Saharanpur. In April 1775, Baghel Singh with two other sardars, Rai Singh Bhangi and Tara Singh Ghaiba, crossed the Yamuna to occupy the territory ruled by Zabita Khan. Zabita Khan, realized the strength of Baghel Singh and offered him a large sums of money. He also proposed an alliance to jointly plunder the crown territory. The second invasion of Delhi took place on July 1775. They captured the area of Pahar Ganj and Jai Singh Pura. This battle was fought at the place where present New Delhi is situated. But the Sikh Army faced acute shortage of supplies and voluntarily withdrew.Sikhs continued their intrusions from time to time. It, compelled Mughal Emperor to concede to the Sikhs, one eighth of the revenue collected from the area in between Rivers Ganga and Yamuna. In March 1776, Baghel Singh defeated the imperial forces near Muzaffarnagar. Thus, he gained control over the whole Yamuna Gangetic belt. Thereafter, he captured territories beyond Delhi including Meerut, Khurja, Aligarh, Tundla, Shikhohabad, Farrukhabad, Agra and many other rich townships around Delhi and collected rakhi from nawabs and rajas of that area. By early 1783, Sikhs commenced preparations for the capture of the Red Fort. A force of 60,000 under the leadership of Sardar Jassa Singh Ahluwalia and Sardar Baghel Singh assembled at Ghaziabad. They attacked and captured the rich towns around Delhi. Enormous booty was collected by the Sikhs. It was sent to Punjab with an escort of 20,000 soldiers. One tenth of this booty was sent to the Golden Temple as offering to the Guru. On March 8, 1783, the Sikhs captured Malka Ganj and Sabzi Mandi. Prince Mirza Shikoh, on orders from the Emperor, tried to stop the invaders but suffered defeat, and fled.
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