kunjel singh and bairi singh were in charge of the rebellion when a greedy zamindar of adjacent deori estate with british support threatened to take control of the sonakhan estate of kunjel's son in law govinda singh who had just been released from nagpur jail. kunjel singh was hiding in the khariar region with surendra sai at this time. on the request from his son in law, he attacked the deori zamindar with 120 rebels and killed him. govinda singh was later caught by the british and executed. on 7 march 1864 british officers lieutenant beril and lieutenant boie arrived in badmal to arrest kunjel but he escaped from there. citing this as a defiance by all the brothers from ghess nobility, they arrested all the three brothers later. kunjel singh and bairi singh were sentenced to death by hanging in sambalpur jail. some believe bairi singh died under rigorous imprisonment and was not hanged. hatee singh was transported for life imprisonment to the andaman islands.