Today it has been 77 years since the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. And despite that the unsolved puzzles of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination are still complicated, so I am trying to shed light on them in this article.
Friends, due to the irresponsible role of the then Congress leaders in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, we had to lose Mahatma Gandhi on 30 January 1948. This becomes more clearly evident from the article by Ravi Vishveshvarayya Sharada Prasad in the English language magazine titled ‘OPEN’ and the book ‘The Man Who Killed Gandhi’ by Manohar Malgaonkar.
Because the then Mumbai State and Central Governments deliberately showed negligence in investigating the Hindu Mahasabha and the preparations going on in the case of Gandhiji’s assassination in Mumbai, Pune, Gwalior and Ahmednagar to prevent the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in time.
And most shockingly, the then Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Mr. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel deliberately took special care to keep Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and the leaders of the Hindu Mahasabha of Gwalior free from the investigations into the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Whereas the weapon used by Nathuram Godse in the assassination of Gandhi was a very modern Italian Beretta pistol which belonged to the Military Secretary of the Maharaja of Gwalior.
Five people from Gwalior played a role in delivering this pistol to Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte. Jagdish Prasad Goyal was the owner of the biggest arms selling agency in Gwalior. But surprisingly, this man’s name is not even mentioned in the chargesheet of Mahatma Gandhi’s murder case!
The one who was playing a leadership role in this episode was Dr. Dattatraya Sadashiv Parchure, who was the head of Gwalior State Hindu Mahasabha and the doctor of Gwalior royal family. He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court. But the Shimla court acquitted him on a technical issue.
And the other three were the most important leaders of Gwalior Hindu Mahasabha. They were put in the list of missing persons in the charge sheet by Justice Atma Ram of the trial court. And all three of them were roaming around comfortably in Gwalior.
My late mother Kamalamma Madikera Sharada Prasad was part of the prosecution team in the trial court of Mahatma Gandhi assassination in 1948 which was being run by Justice Atma Ram in the Lal Qila court. She said that the role of Oscar Henry Brown Chief Presidency Magistrate Mumbai was suspicious. She had caught this earlier because she was a post graduate in psychology. And was a freedom fighter, was arrested in the Quit India Movement of 1942, and was working for a famous law firm. And also worked for the Home Ministry Mumbai State and other government departments.
He was responsible for interrogating Shankar Kishtaiya, who was the servant of Digambar Badge of Pune, an arms dealer and a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, who later became a government witness, and getting some information from him. Because Shankar knew only Telugu and a little Marathi.
Brown who was Scottish and was living in India even after India’s independence. So because my mother had a postgraduate degree in psychology, and her mother tongue was Telugu, Shankar Kishtaiya who was completely illiterate, so he could only speak Telugu. And a little bit of broken Marathi. Because of this my mother was able to extract a fair amount of information from Shankar Kishtaiya.
From my mother’s telling, I learnt that in this case, in view of dozens of important national issues, Sardar Patel’s instructions were that “nothing should be investigated about the Hindu Mahasabha. Because the Hindu Mahasabha is engaged in trying to save the Hindus from the fanatic Razakars in the ongoing war against the Nizam of Hyderabad.”
Similarly, Mumbai’s Deputy Commissioner of Police named Jamshed Dorab Nagarwala, who was keeping an eye on Savarkar’s house in Dadar, had also come to the conclusion that Savarkar was one of the masterminds of the conspiracy to murder Gandhi. And that is why, before 30 January, he had asked the then Mumbai State Home Minister Morarji Bhai Desai for permission to arrest barrister Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, to which Morarji Bhai Desai said, “Beware if you arrest Savarkar.” Nagarwala later retired from the post of IGP of Mumbai Police and Savarkar was acquitted of all charges in the Gandhi murder case. But Nagarwala, the police officer who kept an eye on Savarkar, told Manohar Malgaonkar, author of the book ‘The Men Who Killed Gandhi’, that Savarkar had played a major role in plotting the murder of Gandhi.
Because after being arrested for Gandhiji’s murder, Savarkar said in court that “I don’t know Nathuram Godse”. And Nathuram also said that “he has no relation with Savarkar”. However, after failing in his matriculation exams, Nathuram came to Ratnagiri due to his father’s transfer to the post office. And he came to know that Savarkar is serving a sentence of house arrest here. So he used to go to Savarkar’s house in the morning, and return to his house before going to sleep at night. And later Savarkar also gave him some money to publish a newspaper. And he also got a contract made and kept it with himself. Savarkar also made an agreement for that money and kept it with himself. During the days of Savarkar’s house arrest in Ratnagiri, when Nathuram Godse was fifteen-sixteen years old, he used to stay with him from morning till evening and Nathuram also says the same to save him. But what happened to the public prosecutor? Why did he not expose this lie? It is surprising to see that due to this reason, Savarkar was acquitted of all the charges.
And today almost all Hindutvaites are busy glorifying Nathuram Godse. Is this not enough proof? There is a race to make plays and movies to make him a hero. At some places, even his statues are being made. Nathuram used to go to RSS shakhas since childhood. And later he used to go to Hindu Mahasabha and how did the court accept the lie of “I do not recognize him” without cross-checking it? Because there was enough evidence that Nathuram had prepared Madanlal Dhingra and other terrorists against the British in Savarkar’s life. Have you ever read about Vishkanyas that they were prepared to kill enemies? Similarly, Savarkar had prepared some youth in his life. The last subject in that series was Nathuram. And on this day 77 years ago he put into action the plan to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi. The behind-the-scenes mastermind of this plan was Barrister Savarkar. The then Deputy Commissioner of Mumbai Police, Jamshed Dorab Nagarvala, told Manohar Malgaonkar, author of the book ‘The Men Who Killed Gandhi’ that Long after Savarkar had been cleared of any complicity in the plot, and at least two years after Nagarvala, who had duly reached the pinnacle of a Policeman’s career and served as the Inspector – General of Police, had retired, Nagarvala was still to insist to the Other, To my dying day I shall belive that Savarkar was the man who organized Gandhi’s murder.
Dr Suresh Khairnar is Ex. President of Rashtra Sewa Dal
