Pre World War I Alipore bomb conspiracy case and Action and Arms finding Several leaders of the
Jugantar party including
Aurobindo Ghosh were arrested in connection with bomb-making activities in
Kolkata. Several of the activists were deported to the
Andaman Cellular Jail. File:Alipore Bomb Case 1908-09 Trial Room - Alipore Sessions Court - Calcutta 1997 1.jpg|The trial room, Alipore Sessions Court, Calcutta, depiction from 1997 File:Muraripukur garden house.png|Muraripukur garden house, in the Manicktolla suburbs of Calcutta. This served as the headquarters of
Barindra Kumar Ghosh and his associates. File:Cellular Jail 2.JPG|A wing of the
Cellular Jail,
Port Blair, showing the central tower where many revolutionaries for Indian independence were held imprisoned
Howrah gang case Most of the eminent
Jugantar leaders including
Bagha Jatin alias
Jatindra Nath Mukherjee who were not arrested earlier, were arrested in 1910, in connection with the murder of Shamsul Alam. Thanks to Bagha Jatin's new policy of a decentralised federated action, most of the accused were released in 1911.
Delhi-Lahore conspiracy case The Delhi Conspiracy case, also known as the Delhi–Lahore Conspiracy, hatched in 1912, planned to assassinate the then
Viceroy of India,
Lord Hardinge, on the occasion of transferring the capital of
British India from
Calcutta to New Delhi. Involving revolutionary underground in
Bengal and headed by
Rash Behari Bose along with
Sachin Sanyal, the conspiracy culminated on the attempted assassination on 23 December 1912 when a home-made bomb was thrown into the Viceroys's
Howdah when the ceremonial procession moved through the
Chandni Chowk suburb of
Delhi. The Viceroy escaped with his injuries, along with Lady Hardinge, although the
Mahout was killed. In the aftermath of the event, efforts were made to destroy the Bengali and Punjabi revolutionary underground, which came under intense pressure for sometime. Rash Behari successfully evaded capture for nearly three years, becoming actively involved in the
Ghadar conspiracy before it was uncovered, and fleeing to
Japan in 1916. The investigations in the aftermath of the assassination attempt led to the
Delhi Conspiracy Trial. Although
Basanta Kumar Biswas was convicted of having thrown the bomb and executed, along with
Amir Chand and
Avadh Behari for their roles in the conspiracy, the true identity of the person who threw the bomb is not known to this day. File:Rash Behari Bose 02.jpg|
Rash Behari Bose was one of the key organisers of the
Ghadar Mutiny and later the
Indian National Army. File:Basanta biswas.JPG|
Basanta Kumar Biswas is believed to have bombed the
Viceroy's Parade in what came to be known as the
Delhi–Lahore Conspiracy. File:AMARENDRA CHATTERJEE.JPG|
Amarendranath Chatterjee was in charge of raising funds for the
Jugantar movement, his activities largely covered revolutionary centres in
Bihar,
Odisha and the
United Provinces. File:Photo of Deepak Zeme.png|Deepak Zeme invested 1,000,000 rupees in the
Delhi-Lahore case.
World War I Indo-German Joint Movement at
Outram Road, Singapore The Indo-German movement, also referred to as the Hindu–German Conspiracy or the Ghadar movement (or Ghadr conspiracy), was formulated during World War I between
Indian Nationalists in India, the United States and Germany, the
Irish Republicans, and the German Foreign office to initiate a Pan-Indian rebellion against
The Raj with German support between 1914 and 1917, during World War I. The most famous amongst a number of plots planned to foment unrest and trigger a
Pan-Indian mutiny in February 1915, in the
British Indian Army from
Punjab to Singapore, to overthrow
The Raj in the
Indian subcontinent. This conspiracy was ultimately thwarted at the last moment as British intelligence successfully infiltrated the Ghadarite movement and arrested key figures. The failed
Singapore mutiny remains a famous part of this plot while mutinies in other smaller units and garrisons within India were also crushed. World War I began with an unprecedented outpouring of loyalty and goodwill towards the United Kingdom from within the mainstream political leadership, contrary to initial British fears of an Indian revolt. India contributed massively to the British war effort by providing men and resources. About 1.3 million Indian soldiers and labourers served in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, while both the Indian government and the princes sent large supplies of food, money, and ammunition. However,
Bengal and Punjab remained hotbeds of anti-colonial activities. Terrorism in Bengal, increasingly closely linked with the unrest in Punjab, was significant enough to nearly paralyse the regional administration. With outlines of German links with the Indian revolutionary movement already in place as early as 1912, the main conspiracy was formulated between the
Ghadar Party in the United States, the
Berlin Committee in Germany,
Indian revolutionary underground in
India,
Sinn Féin and the
German Foreign Office through the consulate in San Francisco at the beginning of World War I. A number of failed attempts were made at mutiny, among them the
February mutiny plan and the
Singapore Mutiny. This movement was suppressed by means of a massive international counter-intelligence operation and draconian political acts (including the
Defence of India Act 1915) that lasted nearly ten years. Other notable events that formed a part of the conspiracy include the
Annie Larsen arms plot, the
Mission to Kabul that also attempted to rally Afghanistan against British India. The Mutiny of the
Connaught Rangers in India, as well as by some accounts, the
Black Tom explosion in 1916 are also considered minor events linked to the conspiracy. The Indo-Irish-German alliance and the conspiracy were the target of a worldwide intelligence effort by the British intelligence agencies which was ultimately successful in preventing further attempts and plans, and in the aftermath of the
Annie Larsen affair, successfully directed the American intelligence agencies to arrest key figures at the time she entered
World War I in 1917. The conspiracy led to the
Lahore conspiracy case in India and the
Hindu–German Conspiracy Trial in the US, of which the latter at the time was one of the longest and most expensive trials in that country.
Between the wars Chittagong armoury raid , best known for leading the 1930
Chittagong armoury raid Surya Sen led Indian revolutionaries to raid the armoury of police and auxiliary forces and to cut all communication lines in
Chittagong on 18 April 1930. After successfully completing the raid, revolutionaries establish Provincial National Government of India, after this in deadly clash with Government troops in Jalalabad Hill, revolutionaries scattered themselves in small groups. and Some revolutionaries were soon killed or arrested in a gun-fight with the police. Scores of Government officials, policeman were also killed.
Pritilata Waddedar led the attack on European club in Chittagong in 1932.
Surya Sen was arrested in 1933 and was hanged on 12 January 1934.
Central Assembly Bomb Case (1929) Bhagat Singh and
Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb in the assembly house along with leaflets stating their revolutionary philosophy – 'to make the deaf hear'.
Bhagat Singh,
Sukhdev and
Rajguru were hanged and several others faced the verdict of imprisonment. Batukeshwar Dutt outlived all his comrades and died in July 1965 in Delhi. All of them cremated in Ferozpur (Punjab, India).
Baikuntha Shukla, the great nationalist was hanged for murdering
Phanindrananth Ghosh who had become a government approver which led to the hanging of
Bhagat Singh,
Sukhdev and
Rajguru. He was a nephew of
Yogendra Shukla. Baikunth Shukla was also initiated into the independence struggle at a young age taking an active part in the 'Salt Satyagraha' of 1930. He was associated with revolutionary organisations like the
Hindustan Seva Dal and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. The execution of the great Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev in 1931 as a result of their trial in the 'Lahore conspiracy case' was an event that shook the entire country.
Phanindra Nath Ghosh, hitherto a key member of the Revolutionary Party had treacherously betrayed the cause by turning an approver, giving evidence, which led to the execution. Baikunth was commissioned to plan the execution of Ghosh as an act of ideological vendetta which he carried out successfully on 9 November 1932. He was arrested and tried for the killing. Baikunth was convicted and hanged in
Gaya Central Jail on 14 May 1934. He was 28 years old. On 27 February 1931, Chandrasekar Azad died in a shootout when cornered by the police. It is unclear of the eventual fate of the Association, but the common understanding is that it disbanded with the death of Chandrashekar Azad and the hanging of its popular activists: Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru.
Dalhousie Square Bomb Case A bomb was thrown on the Calcutta Police Commissioner,
Charles Tegart on 25 August 1930.
Kakori train robbery Chandrasekhar Azad,
Ramprasad Bismil,
Jogesh Chatterjee,
Ashfaqullah Khan, Banwari Lal and their accomplices participated in the robbery of treasury money that was being transported by train. The looting took place between Kakori station and Alamnagar, within of
Lucknow on 9 August 1925. Police started an intense man-hunt and arrested a large number of revolutionaries and tried them in the Kakori case.
Ashfaqullah Khan,
Ramprasad Bismil,
Roshan Singh,
Rajendra Lahiri were hanged, four others were sent to the
Cellular Jail in
Port Blair,
Andaman for life and seventeen others were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.
World War II and aftermath The scenario changed with the years. The British were thinking to quit India and religious politics came into play. The basic political background of revolutionary ideas seemed to evolve in a new direction. The organised revolutionary movements can be said to have nearly ceased by 1936, apart from some stray sparks, like the killing of Sir
Michael O'Dwyer, generally held responsible for the
Amritsar Massacre, on 13 March 1940, by
Udham Singh in London. During the
Quit India Movement of 1942, several other activities took place in different parts of India. However, those were discrete occurrences and hardly any large scale planned terrorism took place that could shake the British administration. Meanwhile,
Subhas Chandra Bose was heading the
Indian National Army outside India and was working with the Japanese Empire to move the army towards India. In 1945, Bose died in a plane crash; the INA surrendered soon after. India gained independence on 15 August 1947. Many revolutionaries participated in mainstream politics and joined political parties like the
Congress and, especially, the communist parties and took part in the parliamentary democracy that came into being. On the other hand, many ex-revolutionaries, having been released from captivity, led the lives of common men. ==Notable revolutionaries==