Read the following passage and answer the question:

To fight the British, leadership and organisation were required. For these the rebels sometimes turned to those who had been leaders before the British conquest. One of the first acts of the sepoys of Meerut was to rush to Delhi and appeal to the old Mughal emperor to accept the leadership of the revolt. This acceptance of leadership took its time in coming. Bahadur Shah's first reaction was one of the horror and rejection. It was only when some sepoys had moved into the Mughal court within the Red Fort that the old emperor agreed to be the nominal leader of the rebellion.

Who mobilised the headmen and cultivators of eighty-four villages of Barout during 1857?

Shal Mal

The correct answer is Option (3) → Shal Mal

Shah Mal mobilised the villagers of pargana Barout in Uttar Pradesh in the revolt of 1857. Shah Mal lived in a large village in pargana Barout in Uttar Pradesh. He belonged to a clan of Jat cultivators whose kinship ties extended over chaurasee des (eighty-four villages). Shah Mal mobilized the headmen and cultivators of chaurasee des, moving at night from village to village, urging people to rebel against the British. Shah Mal’s men attacked government buildings, destroyed the bridge over the river, and dug up metalled roads. Locally acknowledged as the Raja, Shah Mal took over the bungalow of an English officer, turned it into a “hall of justice”, settling disputes and dispensing judgments. He also set up an amazingly effective network of intelligence. Shah Mal was killed in battle in July 1857.