The history of Handa family goes back to the year 1632 AD when Keval Ram Handa travelled all the way from Lahore (in present Pakistan) to Murshidabad looking for business opportunities and settled down there seeing good prosperity. His son Ram Chandra Handa got married to Ghanshyam Kapoor's daughter and thus a family relationship got established with the Burdwan Raj family. Their only son Meru Chandra Handa was appointed as Dewan during Alivardi Khan's rule and he flourished considerably. But due to some un foreseen circumstances Meru Chandra shifted to Shergarh (currently Ukhra) with his family including wife, son (Bakhtar Singh Handa) and daughter (Vishnu Kumari). Hence forward the Handa family settled down at Ukhra permanently for twelve generations. Vishnu Kumari was married to the then king of Burdwan, Sri Trilokchand Kapoor. The famous 108 Shiv Mandir was constructed by Vishnu Kumari.
In association with the Burdwan raj family the later decedents acquired a large zamidary & also flourished in business mainly coal mining. They also got the Lall Singha title and till today popularly known as the Lall Singha family of Ukhra in the whole belt. Pulin Behary was given the Rai Bahadur title during the British Rule.
In the year 1739 AD, Meru Chandra constructed the Ram Sita & Damodar Jiu Mandir. Later on Bakhtar Singh had brought Gopinath Jiu from Daihat and hence forward it is popularly known as Gopinath Thakur Bari. Bakhtar Singh's son Sambhu Nath had started the famous Durga puja at Ukhra which is performed with great pomp & show even today. Some of the other major festivals performed are Rathayatra, Jhulan & Gosto.