o’ clock and people were still streaming in on foot,
in cars and with tongas. As I came on to the prayer-
ground at the end of the garden I ran into Bob Stimson,
the Delhi correspondent of BBC.... He looked at his
watch and said: ‘Well, this is strange. Gandhi is late.
He is practically never late.’
“We both looked at our watches again. It was 5:12 by
my watch when Bob said: ‘Here he is.’
“It was one of those shining Delhi evenings, not
at all warm but alight with promise of spring.... The
Mahatma advanced toward us over the grass, leaning
lightly on two of ‘the girls’, with two or three other
members of his ‘family’ behind them.... It was not awarm evening and he was wrapped in home-
spun shawls. He passed by us on the other side
and turned to ascend the four or five brick steps
which led to the terrace or prayer-ground.
“Here, as usual, there was a clump of people,
some of whom were standing and some of whom
had gone on their knees or bent low before him....
“Then I heard four small, dull, dark explo-
sions. ‘What’s that?’ I said to Bob in sudden hor-
ror. ‘I don’t know’, he said. I remember that he
grew pale in an instant. ‘Not the Mahatma!’ I said
and then I knew.
“Inside my own head there occurred a wave-[PARDONED, ACQUITTED]
BADGE AND SHANKAR
A school dropout, Digambar Badge
owned the armoury called Shastra
Bhandar in Poona and was in touch
with Hindu Mahasabha members,
especially Vishnu Karkare.
An unlettered man from Andhra,
Shankar Kistaiya was a servant
of Badge. He became part of the
conspiracy without having any idea
of what it was all about. He didn’t
even know who Gandhi was.
As per the plan, after Madanlal
Pahwa had exploded a gun-cotton
slab, Badge would fire at Gandhi
through a ventilation grille at
Birla House, and Shankar would
shoot Gandhi point-blank. Other
conspirators would then throw
grenades. But, when the time
came, Badge was paralysed with
fear because of an ill omen.
The police took him into custody
on January 31, to find out how
Madanlal had obtained the gun-
cotton slab. Badge volunteered
details of the entire conspiracy.
He turned approver and testified
against Savarkar. Shankar was
sentenced to life imprisonment but
the High Court acquitted him.[ACQUITTED]
DR DATTATRAYA PARCHURE
Parchure helped Nathuram get
the murder weapon, a 9mm
Beretta. Hailing from Poona,
Parchure practised Ayurveda
in Gwalior, where he was the
Hindu Mahasabha’s secretary
and the head of its militant
wing which had a strength
of 3,000. The Gwalior state
was yet to join the Indian
Union, and the Congress was
eager to rule the state after its
merger. The Congress claim
to represent the majority was
contested by the Mahasabha.
But Delhi prevailed and a
Congress ministry was formed
in the state on January 24,- Parchure was furious.
When Nathuram and Apte
called on him, Parchure sent
for the arms supplier G.S.
Dandvate. A semi-automatic
Beretta was given to Nathuram
for 0 300. Dantvate bought
the gun from a Jagdish Prasad
Goel. Parchure was sented to
life imprisonment but the High
Court let him off in June 1949.
He died in Gwalior in 1985.
[ACQUITTED]
V.D. SAVARKAR
Savarkar was born in Nasik in 1883.
As a student of law in England, he
started the Free India Society and
posted thousands of revolutionary
pamphlets to India.
When the British collector A.M.T.
Jackson was killed in Nasik, the
police suspected that the pistol had
been supplied by Savarkar from
London. He was sentenced to 50
years and locked up in the Cellular
Jail in the Andamans. Following
repeated apologies by him, he was
sent to Yerwada jail in Poona after
ten years. Later, he was released on
parole and confined to the district
of Ratnagiri, where Nathuram
first met him. A few months later,
Savarkar made him his secretary.
In 1937, Savarkar was released
unconditionally, and Nathuram
accompanied him on his lecture
tour from Ratnagiri to Bombay.
When Nathuram started the
newspaper Agrani, Savarkar gave
him a loan of 0 15,000.
Two decades after he was
acquitted, the Kapur Commission
concluded that Savarkar was likely
involved in the murder conspiracy.(^44) THE WEEK NOVEMBER 12, 2017
COVER STORY