Veer Savarkar- A profile in courage

Jackson's Assasination

Arthur Jackson was the collector of Nashik since 1907, a mild mannered man, proficient in Sanskrit and Marathi.  Also a learned Indologist, who wrote many papers on Indian history and culture, affectionately called as  Pandit Jackson by the locals.  Fond of the beauty of the Godavari, and the richness of Sanskrit, he often felt that he must have been a Shastri at Nashik in his earlier life. He often carried the image of a people friendly officer, mingling with the common folk at large, and prided himself on his carrot and stick policy, which he felt was effective in controlling the unrest in Nashik.

The fact is when it came to the revolutionaries he was as ruthless, notwithstanding the veneer of civility.  He banned public meetings in Nashik, did not take action against English officers, who behaved rudely with the local Indians. When an English engineer William, killed his coachman, he released him on lack of evidence.  When Babasaheb Khare defended a group of youth who were convicted for shouting "Vande Mataram",  he barred him from practicing in the court. And the final straw was convicting and arresting  Tatya's elder brother Babarao Savarkar for printing a 16 page book of the poems of the revolutionary Kavi Govind.  

After Savarkar had left for England, the Abhinav  Bharat organization he had founded still continued to be active.  While the local revolutionaries began to collect the arms and ammunition needed,  those abroad had managed to send copies of a bomb making manual they found in Paris.  Krishnaji Gopal Karve, popularly called as Anna Karve, a young lawyer from Nashik,  began to make the bombs and experimented with them at Pen. However having suffered ten years RI( Rigorous Imprisonment) he did not go public with his experiences. But he did teach many other youngsters the art of bomb making in private. Vinayak Deshpande who would later be hanged for the assasination of Jackson, Ramachandra Bhate,  Shridhar Barve, Shankar Soman were some of those trained by Karve in bomb making.

While Pen, Nashik, Kothur, Aundh and Pune, emerged as centers of bomb making, the largest of them was at Vasai.  Ramchandra Bhate who was working as an art teacher at Vasai, started the Abhinav Bharat branch there, which attracted many people.  Gangadhar Gokale, Dr. Parulkar, Bapurao Wagh, Advocate Thakur were some of those who had become part of Abhinav Bharat.  When Gopal Rao Patankar, went to Vasai, he was introduced to some of the members there by  Bhate. And it was decided, that Dr. Parulkar and Bhate, would get the raw material from Bombay itself, while Patankar along with the other members of the Vasai, chapter would provided the funding. And thus one of the major bomb making units was started there.

The revolvers sent by Savarkar from London, were secretly bought by Chaturbhuj to Mumbai where Patankar received them and stored them at Pen. And these revolvers made their way to Karve, ironically.  Because Karve at one stage was with the Abhinav Bharat, but he quit, as he felt secret societies should not make their activities too public. Patankar, was the one who made the deal, as he needed money to buy the chemicals and apparatus for bomb making. In the meantime Karve who was seeking to shoot dead Judge Davar,  was looking for a good revolvers. Patankar sold the pistols he stored at Pen to Karve, who in turn kept them with Ganu Vaidya for safe keeping.

Anant Kanhere, hailing from Nizamabad, was eagerly seeking to carry out an assasination in Nashik, asking Ganu "If there is so much repression going on in Nashik, why don't you revolutionaries assasinate the Britsh officers there". A shocked Ganu excused himself saying the time was not really appropriate.   Kanhere claimed he was prepared to go it alone, if none would support him, which Ganu promptly informed to other members.  It also did not help matters that Ganu panicked, claiming he would confess under police torture.  Karve felt that Kanhere's life should not be unnecessarily put in danger, and with none of the other members willing to come forward, Karve vetoed the assasination idea.

Kanhere however was too restless by now, wanted to emaluate Madanlal Dhingra, who had become famous after his assasination of Curzon Wylie. He informed Wamanrao Joshi that he was prepared to assasinate Jackson all by himself. Karve who was in Nashik, agreed to go along and he sent Vinayak Deshpande to Aurangabad to fetch Kanhere, who arrrive in the city on December 21, 1909.  Karve ordered 3 Browning pistols from Ganu Vaidya, and also some poison to Kanhere to commit suicide in case he was captured.  He also wrote a statement for Kanhere, to explain why he commited the assasination, as the latter was just a lad of 16 years. He also asked Kanhere to use the alias of Ramprasad Tiwari and give his residence as Kashi.

December 21,1909

As Jackson was preparing to leave Nashik,  there were a number of farewell programs arranged for him. Around the same time, the Marathi play Sharada was being shown in the city, and Jackson, being a fan of Marathi theater, wanted to see it and the performance of Bal Gandharva.  This was the right time for Kanhere ,  and around 8 PM he came to the Vijayanand Theater, armed with the pistols. Jackson arrived at 9:30 PM, and as he made his way to the seating, Kanhere whipped out his pistol and shot him in the back, after which he came in front of Jackson and shot him there. As he attempted to kill himself, Kanhere was captured by the Dy. Collector Khopkar, and another guest Mr. Jolly.  Jackson, however lay dead on the floor, the objective was achieved.

The police cracked down, on Abhinav Bharat,  Ganu Vaidya was arrested, and on discovery of some pistols in his house, he mentioned Karve's name.  Karve was caught, and under very severe torture, he disclosed the name of Patankar, who in order to save his bomb factory at Vasai, confessed that it was Chaturbhuj who gave him the arms.  And finally on being caught, Chaturbhuj confessed that the pistols were sent to him from London by Savarkar. Not just that he also volunteered to become an approver and a state witness.  

The crackdown intensified on Abhinav Bharat, and most of it's members were arrested.  And many were subjected to severe torture, some of them cracked under it, confessed. Not just the accused, even the witnesses were subject to severe torture by the police, led by one Guider.  No news came out of the police atrocities, even worse the accused could not even see their relatives nor hire a lawyer under the new draconian regulations.  After collecting all the evidences through torture, intimidation and offering inducements, the authorities instituted a separate case, under IPC 302.  Kanhere, Karve and Deshpande were sentenced to death by hanging, and on April 19,1910, they were hanged at Thane. Soman, Wamanrao Joshi and Ganu Vaidya were sentenced to exile for life, while D.P.Joshi was given 2 years rigorous imprisonment.  Savarkar, wrote an article in Talwar from Paris, on the event, under the heading Martyrs of Nashik, which would be used against him.