Today is March 23. Eighty-seven years ago, in 1931, three revolutionary freedom fighters were hanged to death by the British on charges of throwing a bomb in the Parliament. They were Bhagat Singh, Shivram Hari Rajguru, and Sukhdev Thapar. Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev had just turned 23 and the youngest, Rajguru just crossed 22, when they valiantly faced British gallows. Though they were praised a lot for their valiant acts, there is a hushed-up chapter of who ditched them during the trial or those who were bought by the British to make sure that these revolutionary youth should face gallows. One was a crooked contractor and the other were five youth belonging to a revolutionaries’ party – the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). All these six persons financially benefited from the British for ditching these revolutionaries.
For this betrayal, Sobha Singh was rewarded with major construction contracts in the current Rashtrapati Bhavan building.
The contractor who ditched Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru was none other than the builder and contractor Sobha Singh[1], who got the title of a Sir from the British Government. Sobha Singh, father of the famous journalist Khushwant Singh was a prominent builder in Delhi, who got the contracts to build many of the landmark buildings of Delhi. He gave a false statement that he was present in the gallery and saw the bombs being hurled by these three youth in the Central Legislative Assembly (the current Lok Sabha). Upon cross-examination, he lied that he had back pain and was massaging the back side of his body and saw the bombs being hurled. This false deposition of Sobha Singh was taken as crucial evidence by the British court, which led to the hanging of the revolutionary trio.
For this betrayal, Sobha Singh was rewarded with major construction contracts in the current Rashtrapati Bhavan building. British made him the first Indian Chairman of the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and he continued in this post four times till 1946. And later, after the country attained independence, the cunning contractor and builder jumped on to the Congress bandwagon and was the beneficiary of several deals till his death in 1978.
The British prosecution bought five youth from the HSRA and they became approvers and ditched their leaders. Four young men – Jai Gopal, Phanindra Nath Ghosh, Manmohan Bannerjee and Kailash Pati accepted Rs.20,000 from the Prosecution to become approvers in 1930. Later, in 1932, Phanindra Nath Ghosh was assassinated by Baikunth Shukla, another revolutionary of HSRA, for betraying Bhagat Singh.
The fifth one – Hans Raj Vohra – was the most crooked one of the lot. He did not accept any money. He demanded admission into the London School of Economics (LSE). The British prosecution obliged and got him admission in LSE. From LSE, he continued living in London and got admission into the London School of Journalism (LSJ). The crooked man came back to an independent India as a journalist and worked in top editorial positions in Times of India, Deccan Herald and Statesman and became their foreign affairs editor and later in the early 70s, landed in Washington and was the correspondent for many Indian newspapers. Towards the end of his life his early 80s, a guilty conscience started haunting him and he wrote a detailed letter to Sukhdev’s brother detailing how he had made an error and why he miscalculated and became an approver. In his confession letter, he argued that he thought or got a wrong impression that Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru may apologize and escape from gallows. He wrote this confession-like-letter few months before his death in 1985, in Washington.
It is still intriguing as to how Independent India tolerated these persons, especially Sobha Singh and Hans Raj Vohra. This black chapter in history tells us how many traitors get away with their sins and continue to exist in the society.
References:
[1] Sobha Singh, builder – Wikipedia.com
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As per Tribune India article, linked in this post, Phonindra Nath Ghosh and Manmohan Bannerji got 50 acres of land in Bihar, not Rs.20,000. May be the post can be corrected.
We never punished such traitors after independence and many of them enjoyed the status ofand facilities for freedom fighters like Vohra. One of such person who left Azad in Alfraid park of Allahabad facong police encounter 8became even became a famos writer and sold thr stories of thease heroes in his novels and books.
Lovely article. An eyeopener. Kudos to PGurus. Ur one of those rare common sensical lightposts in this otherwise madness in mayhem called SM.
“It is still intriguing as to how Independent India tolerated these persons,” – There is nothing intriguing about this. It very well suited the successor to the Indian “throne” – Nehru. What is intriguing is the fact that Sobha Singh was not warded “Bharat Ratna” !!!
Hindustan to be learned from these traitors that our weakness is the enemy within and we have to identify the traitor & boot lickers seed, the foreigners sawed before leaving india which gave them freedom to rape democracy in at will. Knowing hindustan better than anyone british were aware that the time was on threshold to give independence to India beacuse of Bose,s army and the popular support he had in india. They handed over power to a mix of lutyns and patriots. Even after 70 years the lutyns and there circle are
still alive. They are the judas of modern india, identify them…. Uthishtada. Jaagratha….We are not late to wake up for the generation to come… JAI BAGHAT,JAI RAJGURU, JAI SUKHDEV… JAI HInd
Pgurus should open up more on the Scindias – the traitors who helped the British liquidate Jhansi ki Rani. It is the Scindia haramis who re-invited the British to India & helped them with weapons and manpower
Today we do not have Bhagat Singhs. We only have desh drohis like Manmohan who allowed the Italian Mafia loot our nation. SukhDev Thapar has been replaced by presstitutes like ‘Dukhdey – Karan Thapars’
Loot is continuing , many times now, in open. Who allow this and intentionally do not see this are real Desh Drohi. Those who support those who allow loot are cockroaches.