...there was one person who would sometimes try to strike up a conversation with me - this was none other Narendranath Goswami, who later turned into a State 'approver'. He was neither quiet nor well-behaved like the other boys but rather impudent, frivolous and unrestrained in character, speech and act. At the time of the arrest, his natural courage and boldness came to the fore but later on he found himself incapable of bearing even the slightest suffering and inconvenience of prison life. After all, he was a landlord's son, with a spoilt upbringing amidst luxury, pomp and moral indulgence. The severe austerity and constraints of prison life had driven him to despair and he expressed these feelings freely and openly to all. Gradually, he became possessed by an intense desire to escape the torturous conditions by any means possible. At first, he had hoped to retract his confession and prove that the Police had used physical torture to extract a confession of guilt from him. He mentioned that his father was determined to make requisite arrangements for false witnesses. A few days later, a new aspect was revealed to us. His father and a moktar (a pleader's agent) began to visit him frequently in the prison. Eventually detective Shamsul Alam also started holding long conversations with him in secret.
When this matter first came to light, Gossain confessed that the police were trying to persuade him to turn "King's Witness". He once mentioned this matter to me in the court. I asked him: "What has been your response?" He said: "Am I going to fall for that! And even if I do agree, how much do I really know, to give the kind of evidence they want me to?" After a few days, when he broached the subject once again, I noticed that things had advanced substantially... My own sense was that Gossain had not yet committed himself to the idea of turning an 'approver'. Although he was leaning more and more in that direction, he also nurtured hopes of damaging the Police case by misleading them. The ones of a wicked disposition are naturally inclined to achieve their ends through deception and dishonesty. It became evident to me that the Police now held sway over Gossain and he would say or do anything under their influence to save his own skin. The degradation of a base nature through successively more ignoble acts was being enacted before our very eyes like the acts of a play. I noticed the changes in Gossain's mental make-up, his appearance, his expression and mannerisms and even in his speech.
During the preliminary hearings in the Magistrate's Court, Naren Goswami, who had turned State's evidence in exchange for a full pardon, claimed in his testimony that Sri Aurobindo was not only aware of several dacoities and bombings attempted by the Maniktolla Secret Society but had even helped in the planning. Naren also claimed that Sri Aurobindo was the boro karta or Principal Leader of the Secret Society, and that his younger brother, Barin was only the chhoto karta or the Deputy.
The testimony in the Magistrate's Court was a curious mixture of fact and falsehood. Still if it were to be admitted in the Sessions Court, it would be sufficiently incriminating to prove the Prosecution's charges against Sri Aurobindo. The legal consequences could be the worst possible.
The prison authorities had shifted Narendra Goswami to the Jail Block where European prisoners were kept, fearing retribution from his revolutionary associates. Kanailal Dutt and Satyen Bose were admitted as patients in the Jail Hospital. Satyen sent a message to Naren expressing his desire to also turn King's evidence. Naren came to the Jail Hospital along with an escort. Naren, Satyen and Kanai went out to the Verandah to converse in private.
Replica of revolvers used by Kanailal and Satyen Bose for assassinating Naren
Suddenly, Satyen and Kanai took out revolvers, previously smuggled in for a planned Jail-break. Naren ran into the room followed by the revolutionaries. There was a scuffle and shots rang out. Nine bullets were fired in total. Naren ran out of the Hospital Gate with Kanai and Satyen in pursuit. Abruptly Naren spun around and fell down dying into the drain. A bullet from Kanai's revolver had punctured his spine. Justice had been served on the traitor in true revolutionary style.
Reference: The Assassination of Narendranath Goswami
Satyen Bose and Kanailal Dutt (with spectacles) after shooting Naren Goswami in the Jail (From L to R)
Kanailal's statement to the District Magistrate about his motive for assassinating Naren was touchingly direct and simple: "I wish to state that I did kill him. I do not wish to give any statement why I killed him. Wait, I do wish to give a reason. It was because he was a traitor to his country."
The Alipore Jail Murder Case in which Kanailal and Satyen were tried for the killing of Naren Goswami lasted only 2 days. Kanailal was found guilty immediately. Satyen Bose was later found guilty by the High Court. Both men were sentenced to death by hanging.
He was serene in his final days. On the eve of his execution he slept soundly. At six in the morning he walked briskly to the gallows and stood firm and erect as the noose was placed around his neck. A quiet smile remained on his lips. An Englishman who witnessed the hanging later asked Barin, "How many more do you have like him?"
Of the thirty-eight prisoners on trial in the Alipore Bomb Case, the Government sought above all to convict Sri Aurobindo, whom they considered to be the secret ringleader of the revolutionaries; he was at the time the most powerful voice of Nationalism in Bengal. To imprison him for life or hang him, the Government had only to prove that he had "aided and abetted" the Maniktola secret society in its activities. The prosecution's star witness was to be Narendra Nath Goswami, a young revolutionary from a rich zamindar's family who had agreed to turn King's evidence in exchange for a full pardon. During the preliminary hearings in the Magistrate's Court, Goswami testified that Sri Aurobindo knew of several dacoities and bombings attempted by the secret society and had even helped to plan them; he also claimed that Sri Aurobindo was the society's principal leader, the bara karta, and that his brother Barin was only the chhota karta or little leader. This confession, a mixture of fact and falsehood, if admitted as evidence in the Sessions Court, was incriminating enough to send Sri Aurobindo to the gallows.
Goswami's fellow-prisoners soon became aware that he had betrayed them. By the questions he asked and the frequent visits of his father with a lawyer and later the visits of detective Shams-ul-Alam, the informer gave himself away. His companions did not take the matter lightly, but threatened to kill him. Anxious to preserve his life, the jail authorities removed him to the block where the European prisoners were kept.
Two revolutionaries, Kanailal Dutt of Serampore and Satyendra Nath Bose of Midnapore, resolved to kill Goswami. Each managed to obtain a revolver earlier smuggled into the prison for making a jail break. On 27 July 1908 Satyen, suffering from bronchial asthma, checked into the jail hospital. Three days later he was joined by Kanai, who complained of severe colic. Satyen sent a message to Goswami, asking to see him; when they met, Satyen explained that he too wished to become an informer and testify against the others. Goswami again visited Satyen on the morning of August 31. Goswami was escorted by a European convict-warder named Higgins, who took him to the hospital's dispensary and then let him speak privately with Satyen and Kana on the verandah outside the room. Suddenly a shot was fired. Goswami ran into the dispensary and cried out, "For God's sake, save me; they are going to shoot me!" The two assailants charged into the room. Higgins grappled with Satyen, who shot him in the wrist. Others then entered and tried to intervene. In the confusion Higgins and Goswami fled down the staircase in front of the dispensary and ran out the hospital gate in the direction of the jail offices. Kanai and Satyen pursued, firing as they went. A European prisoner named Linton, approaching with others from the opposite direction, intercepted Satyen and knocked him down. Kana rushed past in chase of the victim and fired at close range. The bullet hit Goswami high in the back and punctured his spine. The informer spun around and fell down dying into the drain; a few minutes later he expired. Revolutionary justice had been served.
The violent deed done, Kanai and Satyen submitted passively. Both men knew they were doomed. Whether their daring murder had succeeded or failed, their fate was to be hanged. By killing Goswami they had sacrificed their own lives.
Kanai's statement to the district magistrate about his motive for the killing was touchingly direct and simple: "I wish to state that I did kill him. I don't wish to give any statement why I killed him. No, I do wish to give a reason. It was because he proved a traitor to his country." The practical consequence of the killing was that the lives of Sri Aurobindo and other revolutionaries were saved. The law stipulated that before any statement made in the Magistrate's Court could be admitted as evidence in the Sessions Court, the defence had the right to cross-examine the witness. But Narendra Nath Goswami had not been cross-examined. Thus by shooting him, Kanai and Satyen had invalidated his testimony.
The Alipore Jail Murder Case began on September 9, ten days after the shooting, and lasted only two days. Kanai was found guilty by a five-man jury; Satyen was found not guilty by a majority of three to two. The verdict on Satyen was overturned by the High Court and both men were sentenced to death by hanging.
Kanai Dutt, twenty years old, was hanged on November 10 in Alipore Jail. The day before, fellow-prisoners were allowed to see him. Upendranath Banerjee found his face as peaceful as a saint's, without "a line of care or shadow of despondency". Serene in his final days, the frail, ailing youth had managed to put on several kilos of weight; on the eve of his execution he slept soundly. At six in the morning he walked quickly to the gallows and stood firm and erect as the noose was placed around his neck. A quiet smile remained on his lips till the end. An Englishman who witnessed the hanging later asked Barin, "How many boys like this do you have?" Kanai's body was taken for burning to Kalighat. A procession of thousands of barefooted mourners singing patriotic songs escorted the body from the jail gate to the cremation ground. Many more had gathered there already to pay their final homage. After the body had been burned, ashes and bits of bone - the relics of a martyr - were distributed among the people.
This spontaneous and unprecedented expression of public grief showed the passionate new mood that had awakened in the people. The Government, taken by surprise, did not want the occurrence repeated. Eleven days later when Satyendra Nath Bose was hanged, his body was cremated, by special order, within the jail compound. His ashes were not sent for immersion in the Ganges.
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