Revolutionary Kanhai Lal Dutt was given death sentence on 10 November 1908 in the Alipore bomb blast case.
This story begins in the year 1905, when there was talk of partition of Bengal on the orders of Lord Curzon. Anger against this order spreads throughout Bengal. Meanwhile, at different times, British officers become the target of revolutionaries. They are attacked. In this case the name of the revolutionary organization Anushilan Samiti comes to light. Police action intensifies after the attack on Douglas King’s Ford in 1908.
A large number of members of Anushilan Samiti, who came under the scanner of investigation, are arrested, among them the name of Aurobindo Ghosh was named as the main accused, who turned towards spirituality after being released from jail and became famous throughout the world. This entire case is known as Alipore bomb case.
Bombs were made behind the house and bhajan kirtan was performed in front.
49 people were prosecuted in this case. The main accused Aurobindo was acquitted due to lack of evidence but many others were hanged. Some were even sentenced to life imprisonment. The house where Aurobindo Ghosh lived was in North Calcutta and was named Garden House. This house was the base of Anushilan Samiti.
Bombs would be made behind the house and bhajans and kirtans would be sung in front. When the bomb was made, it was time to test it. Prafulla Chakraborty died in the first test. But it was determined that the bombs were working fine. Now Bengal Governor Andrew Fraser was the target. Attempts to attack him five times were not successful. But this incident alerted the police because the Governor was the target again and again.
Meanwhile, Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Kumar threw a bomb at the British Judge Douglas King’s Ford. Luckily they survived but a British woman and her child died. Khudiram Bose was sentenced to death in this case. In the known history till now, Khudiram was the only revolutionary who was hanged at the youngest age of 19.
Kanhai Lal Dutt
arrest of 49 people
After the attack on Kings Ford, police action intensified and 49 people including Aurobindo Ghosh were arrested in this case. Bombs and materials to make them were also found during the search of the garden house. Everyone was sent to Alipur Jail. The police had made this case bigger by combining several cases. That’s why this case came into limelight across the country. Meanwhile, Narendra Nath Goswami, who had now become a government witness, was produced in the court for attacking the Governor.
This decision of Narendra filled the jailed revolutionaries with anger. Kanhai Lal Dutt was also in jail. The members of the Anushilan Committee decided to silence Narendra. Because if he had opened his mouth, Aurobindo’s punishment was certain. Kanhai Lal Dutt made the excuse of stomach ache and reached the jail hospital. From here a message was sent to Narendra that Kanhai and Satyendra Nath Bose also wanted to become government witnesses, in such a situation a meeting was necessary.
When Narendra reached the hospital, Kanhai and Satyendra shot him with bullets there. How the weapon reached the English jail remains a mystery.
hanged at the age of just 20
In this case, Kanhai was hanged on 10 November 1908 and Satyendra Nath was hanged two days later. Kanhai was only 20 years old at that time. In this way the revolutionaries also spoiled the plan of the British in which they wanted to punish many people with the help of Narendra. The main accused Aurobindo went free. The British could not present any evidence against him, the evidence presented was considered insufficient by the British judge.
However, Aurobindo’s brothers Barin Das and Ulaskar Dutt were hanged, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. 16 people were left behind along with Aurobindo. 13 were sentenced to life imprisonment. Some were sentenced to 10 and some to seven years.
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