Mail Dacoity in Surma Valley

[11] UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN ASSAM FROM 1921 TO 1947: Mail Dacoity in Surma Valley

A series of mail robberies were Committed by the revolutionaries in the Sylhet district in the middle of 1933 and 1934. Initially, the revolutionaries planned to destroy the Government letter boxes. Therefore, incidents like the burning of letter boxes in two different places in Sylhet were committed by them.

The first case in Assam province of an attempt to burn the contents of a letter box was reported in the Habiganj sub-division of the Sylhet district in May 1932. A few days later another same case occurred in the Sylhet district, in the South Sylhet Sub-division. Later, the revolutionaries planned to loot the money contain inside the mail to perches arms and ammunition for their organizations. The absconding members of Dacca Sree Sangha were pioneers in mail robberies.

1933 “Chandpur” mail dacoity

A serious mail dacoity occurred in Sylhet on 12^th January 1933, by Binode Behari Bhattacharjee(an important and active member of the Maulavibazar Terrorist Organisation and a good motor driver and a custodian of funds of the party) with Anil Das alias Renu (leader of Dacca Sree Sangha, absconder), “Sukumar Nandi Mazumdar (leader of Dacca Sree Sangha, Absconding in Sylhet) ”  Satya Charan Ray alias Satyendra Ray (member of Dacca Sree Sangha) and Sreeprashad Upadhyayay alias Sreepath alias Jnan Pandey(leader of the Habiganj Revolutionary part). They used a car driven by Binode Behari Bhattacharjee, “armed with firearms, iron rods, etc”.    subsequently chloroformed, assaulted two mail runners in broad daylight about nine miles from Sylhet town at “Chandpur”   and got away with insured covers and cash amounting to Rs. 8,186 were taken away. The Government suspected that the dacoity was committed by an expert from Bengal assisted by Sylhet students who were able to supply the local knowledge. The Government had offered a reward of Rs. 1000 for information about the offenders. Binode Behari Bhattacharjee was given part of the booty by Anil Das, who took away the rest. A secret meeting was held after the Chandpur Mail Dacoity in purchasing arms and ammunition for the party, Welfare Association, Sylhet ( a branch of the Dacca Sree Sangha) establishing connecting with other terrorist groups in India and obtaining a motor car to be placed at Binode Behari Bhattacharjee’s disposal to train another recruit in motor driving.

Another serious mail dacoity took place in March 1933, near Itakhola railway station in Sylhet district in which one man was shot dead and several others were wounded with revolver shots, and Rs. 3000 were stolen. According to police reports the dacoity was committed by a group of revolutionaries from the Tippera district of Bengal. The terrified villagers lost their temper and caught three of the four dacoits. Biraj Mohan Deb alias Bagha, one of  them was also charged with an attempt to murder  a police informer in the Trippera district. After trial one of the accused was sentenced to death and three others to transpiration for life.

Another mail dacoity at Samshernagar was also committed on September  2^nd,  1933, on a railway platform in Sylhet district led by Ananga Mohan Bhattachrjee (member of Sylhet Terrorist Organisation) who was a custodian of arms and ammunitions of the party. Binod Behari Bhattacharjee and  Barada Charan Bhattacharjee also took part in the dacoity. The property was stolen Rs.2, 347-8. The party made more attempts at dacoity in Sylhet district during 1934, which, however, did not materialize. The government did not succeed in capturing any dacoits. Binode Behari Bhattacharjee, Debesh Kamal Bhattacharjee, Krishnamoy Bhattacharjee were arrested but discharged for lack of evidence.

A secret meeting of terrorist leaders was held in Brajendra Nath Arjun’s, (Secretary of the Tarun Sangha), house, and it was decided to stage mail robberies on the Maulavibazaar-Rajnagar and Maulavibazar –Srimangal lines. To materialize their plan the terrorists, committed a mail dacoity on 5^th December 1933.  The runner carrying the mail from Ajmiriganj to Habiganj in Sylhet district was attacked by Bhadralog youths who carried away the bags and abstracted insured covered, valued Rs. 7,680. The Government suspected the post and telegraph office may be connected with the dacoity.

 The leader of the  Habiganj revolutionary organization, Satya Charan Ray alias Satyendra Ray staged the Paikpara(Sylhet)  Mail dacoity with the help of Sanat Dutta (Jugantar  leader) . He formed a gang at Habiganj with Ramesh Dutta Chaudhury, Gunendra Mitra and others for the dacoity. Besides Sanat Datta he had also closed touch with Uma Sankar Petua (a leader of  Silchar revolutionary party and Tinsukia Mail dacoity approver). He was armed with five chambered revolver at that time.  According to Government reports, the rifle used in the Tinsukia Mail dacoity was actually procured by Satyendra Ray and sent Sylhet for the use of the party. In the course of inquiry of the Tinsukia Mail dacoity case, it transpired that a gun (not rifle ) which was used by the dacoits and seized by the police was from the custody of Kumar Karan Kishor Deb Barman alias Karna Kanta of Agartala, in whose house Satyendra Ray lived for the sometime before the dacoity. Umednagar Mail robbery was  also committed by  Satyendra Ray with Gopendra Ray on  20^th Marchred-handed, 1934,  robbed cash and postal articles worth rupees 9,595/- from the mail runners on the Ujmirganj – Habiganj road. Satyendra Ray was caught by red-handed with a loaded pistol and cash money worth rupees 6,785. An attempt was made to rescue him from the Habiganj Jail by Sree Prashad Upadhyaa with three activists from Bengal.  Police received the information and  Satyendra Ray and other terrorist prisoners were transferred to the Sylhet Jail in May 1934. But even after then the mail dacoity continued.   

In Ajmiriganj-Habiganj rout there was third mail dacoity within a year in September 1934. The other two were in December 1933 and March 1934.

  An abortive mail dacoity was committed at Halitola of  Sylhet district on 31^st May  1935, by Pradyumna Kr.  Nag,  and Paresh Chandra Chaterjee of “Habiganj Terrorist Party (both) armed with weapons”  were arrested and convicted under section 393/398 I.P.C., and sentenced to 7 years rigorous imprisonment. 

(Source: Assam State Government Archive)

Formation of GoalparaTarun Sangha, the First secret society in Assam

 

UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN ASSAM FROM 1921 TO 1947: Formation of Goalpara Tarun Sangha, the First secret society in Assam

As a result of the suspension of the Non-Cooperation Movement, a revolutionary organization Tarun Sangha was formed in Goalpara in between 1923-24. The sole organizer of the Sangha was Khagendranath Nath. He organized the Tarunsangha with the help of Hiranya Kumar Basu of Dhubri, who was an active member of Bengal Anushilan Samiti, Pulakesh De (Dhubri), Pratul Ganguli and P.C. Chakravarty,  the famous revolutionary leader of Kumilla. Initially, Lathi and dagger play were practiced in the Sangha.  Later they appointed Biswanath Bhadury an expert in lathi and dagger ply from Faridpur to train the members of the sangha. Besides these, the members of the Tarunsanghawere are bound to read biographies of famous revolutionaries, preferably on the description of Bengal revolutionary activities. At that revolutionary related books were declared as proscribed by the government. The members of the Tarunsangha were always ready to do anti-government activities so they preferred those proscribed books as their study materials.¹  

The formation of Tarunsangha opened a new age in Goalpara. Youths from various places came to join the Sangha. The door of the Sangha was opened for all cast and creeds but in the case of membership, it depends on fitness. Moreover, the members were also not allowed to participate in every discussion and activity of the Sangha. There were two types of members- Ordinary members and Special members. The special members of the period were Kumar Rai, Mahabir Prashad Saha, Sudhinya Bush(Mantu), Anadi Charan Das of Southern bank of Brahmaputra, Umesh Chandra Das (village – Dahela), Rajani Kanta Das (village – Bahati, Sarat Chandra Rai (village – Tukura ), Mahaesh Chandra Das (Goalpara-Chandaria), Madhab Chandra  Das (Chandaria), Mathura Kanta Das (Chandaria), Harakanta Kalita (Goalpara town), Sachindra  Kumar Nath, Sailen Kumar Nath, Najimuddin Ahmed (Nayapara), Durga Prashad Rai, Sharat Chandra Das of Northern bank of Brahmaputra and Okhil Chandra Das(village -Piradhara ) etc.² The aim of the Tarun Sangha was to free India with armed revolution and not individual terrorism. To materialize their aims a good number of efficient members must be recruited. But it was very tough work for the organizers to find out a single competent member for the sangha. During that time, pictures and speeches of Jyanenjan Neogi’s Magic lantern created a great contribution for inspiration to the members of the Tarunsangha. Tarunsangha had good communication with the Anishilan Samiti of the Kumilla branch, that is why P.C.Chakravarty visited Goalpara in November 1926 and he administered the oath to Khagendranath Nath with blood signature of Nath’s chest in his notebook. From Goalpara he went to Guwahati to meet the other members of revolutionary organizations and from there by ship he back to Calcutta.³ The oath-taking system prevailed in the Bengal Anushilan Samiti from the very beginning. Any person who wanted to engage in the same Samiti activity had first to take an oath secretly. Aurobindo gave the oath of his revolutionary party to P. Mittra. He also administered the oath to, Hemchandra Das, with a sword and the Gita in his hands. The person taking the oath had to promise in a solemn manner that he would try to secure the freedom of Mather India at any cost, and not to declare the secret of his society, to anyone outside.

The Anushilan Samiti laid down three types of vows preliminary, find, and special, in order to infuse revolutionary morality into the new members so they could bravely face any danger and maintain absolute secrecy. The final vow, particularly, contained six pledges in which the members promised to keep secret to affairs of the Samiti from persons who were not found by oath.⁴

It is significant to note in this connection that the pledge of the oath enjoined the penalty of death for the betrayal of the cause of revolution and also for confession of the secret of the movement. Narendranath Gossain who became the approver of the Alipur Bomb Case was murdered within the Alipur Jail on 31^st August, 1908.⁵   by Kanai and Satyen. By killing Narendranath Gossain,  Kanai and Satyen proved that betrayers had no place among the revolutionaries dedicated to the cause of the country⁶. In 1917, Reboti Nag a member of the Dacca Anushilan Samiti was assassinated by his associates for disciplinary reasons.⁷ The oath-taking custom of secret societies of Bengal was also adopted by the secret societies of Assam. After the incident of Narendra Gossain, the secrecy and alertness of  SEWA SANGHA the first secret society of Assam increased. The member of the Sangha took an oath in the name of their country and religion, not to disclose the name of the other members in any circumstances. Anyone not keeping to this oath will be murdered like Narendra Gossain.⁸ There was a meeting of the Tarun Sangha at 5pm on the 4^th of April 1930, in the Jublee Garden , Guahati, about 150 students and a few other persons attended.  The leading men among them were –

 1. Hem Chandra Barua, Pleader

2. SidhiNath Sharma, Pleader,

3. Bishnu Ram Medhi, Pleader,

4. Dehi Ram Deka, Pleader,

5. AmbikaGiriRaichoudhuri and

6. Nara Nath Sharma of Sibsagar .

Government could not received any objectionable report instead of the cries at the time of dissolved the meeting “ Desh Mata Ki Jai, Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. Thus, despite the non-violence movement at the time, many youths formed secret organizations with the plan to spread violence or terror and drive the British out of India.

References –

1.      Nath, Khagendranath, Swadhinata Sangramat Goalpara, Goalpara, 1971, Page -30).

2.      “  ( Page-30).

3.      “ ,( Page-31).

4.       Sen, S. N., The Bengalis ; The people their History and Culture, Page- 150)

5.       Choudhuri, K.C. History of Modern India, Calcutta, 1993, Page-378)

6.       Sen, S. N., ----Page- 150)

7.      Mor Jeevan Dhumuhar Esati, A.Raichoudhury) and

8.      ^{YEAR -1930, ASSAM POLICE ABSTRACT OF INTELLIGENCE , TARUN SANGHA, GAUHATI} .

Lone Terrorist action in the Brahmaputra Valley

[ 11 ] UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE MOVEMENT IN ASSAM FROM 1921 TO 1947: Lone Terrorist action in the Brahmaputra Valley

Inspired by the First World War, the revolutionary groups of India, planned to achieve independence by arranging Armed National Uprising throughout India with the help of the Indian and German armies.  The plan progressed under the leadership of Rasbihehari Bose of Anusilan Samiti. Some of the members from the ‘center’ who returned from foreign countries also joined him. To materialize his plan a special group was sent to Germany for negotiation and to bring ships full of arms and ammunition from there. In India, all plans and programmes were conducted by grand revolutionary leader Jatindranath Mukhupadhyay. During that period, though revolutionary groups were organized in different places under different leaders, they helped each other plan to fight against the British Raj. The plan of arms uprising in India was almost completed under Rasbehari Bose and the revolutionaries were waiting eagerly for the arrival of the chips which were supposed to bring arms and ammunition from Germany.  21^st February 1915 was fixed for open arms uprising.  The members of all the revolutionary groups were waiting for zero-hour. Unexpectedly two days before the zero-hour,  the British Government came to know about the plan from Kripal Singh. To suppress the uprising, the British Government started brutal exploitation of the Indian Army as well as of the Revolutionaries. After the incident, the British Government passed the Defense of India Act, of 1915. In accordance with this law, British Government arrested hundreds of revolutionaries.  Without a warrant and trail, they were put in jail. Many Indian military men were deported and imprisoned and many of them were hanged. In such a situation it became very hard for the revolutionary groups to survive.  At this juncture, Rashbehari Bose collected a passport in the name of Pramathnath Thakur and went to Japan to organize revolutionaries abroad. The British Government announced 12,000/- rupees for his head, dead or alive.  On the other hand in India, some leaders of AnusilanSamiti went underground and ran the activities secretly.² “Jadu Gopal Mukharjee, a student of Medical College, Calcutta, with a price of Rs.20,000 over his head, he went “underground” and traveled extensively in Bengal, Assam, and Northern India organizing the party. He was in charge of the Jugantar Party’s foreign bureau and was actively associated, in the early years of World War First, with the party’s negotiations with Germany for arms supplies to help the revolutionary movement in India. He was a “two-gun” man who could easily shoot it out with the police holding a revolver in each hand.  He was a man of much daring and a skilled horseman and also an adept at disguise, using the minimum of makeup”.³ In March 1917, Jadu Gopal Mukharjee with the help of “Priya Kanta Mitra”⁴, visited a shelter of the party at Binnakutta, in Assam where KshitishChoudhuri, state prisoner and Nagnendra Chakravartti (interned) were residing. The three discussed the best route to china, and Jadu Gopal asked them to procure a map. A map was procured from a lower primary school at night and made over to Jadu Gopal, who compared it with an atlas that he had brought with him.  He ordered a tracing of the map to be made and then resolved to open out a route to china by establishing gradually shelters in that direction. KshitishChoudhuri was sent out to the prospect. He opened a shelter at Sarbhum, which is on the Bhutan border, and Nagnendra Chakravarti opened another at Churang, which is in Bhutan 20 miles over the border.  At both these places Modi shops were established. Four houses were purchased to enable the members to travel from one shelter to another, and they engaged in trading in rice and smuggling ganja. They made the acquaintance of several persons in the neighborhood of Churang, from whom they secured a revolver, two guns, and some daggers. These shelters were kept open for five months. In July they had to be given up owing to a split in the party and to lack of funds, and so the project of entering china in this way was abandoned.⁵                 

Beside the shelter of Binnakutta , there were other  two revolutionary den in Guwahati, one was  ‘The Eastern side of Guwahati Jail in Athgaon area’⁶ , and the other was in Fancy Bazar. Nalini Ghose , the notorious leader of AnusilanSamiti, escaped from “Dalanda” jail on 23^rd December 1916 and sought refuge in Athgaon. Along with him, Parbhas Lahiri (Later Congress Leader of Rajshahi, member of the executive committee of undivided Bengal, and Finance Minister of divided East Bengal), Mahendra Rai (Later accountant of Purbabharati) Amarendra Babu and  Prabhat Dasgupta(he also escaped from “Dalanda” jail) all took shelter in Athgaon.  Those who lived at Fanci Bazar den were Naren Banarjee alias Kartababu, renown martyr Nalini Bagsi, and Taraprasanna Dey. It is worth mentioning that at that time there was full of co-operation among the various revolutionary groups of India. That was why Amarendra Chantupadhyay (later a prominent Congress leader and Member of the Central Executive Committee) and Satis Chandra Chakravarty  of Ygantar Party ,  were welcomed in Athgaon shelter after the project failure of entering China.⁷

 Mahindra Rai was guarding the shelter on the night of 7^th January 1918. At about 2 A.M., he heard sound of heavy boots and then the knocking of the door. It was the police. He hurriedly went back to the shelter to informed his comrade about the arrival of the police. The members of the AnusilanSamiti  with their guns got ready to counter-attack the police. Nalini Ghose ordered his compatriots -  “Fall in”. “Fall in” means to fight till the last breath of one’s life and to present the last bullet for one’s own life, in case of arrest. Nalini Ghose  and Prabhas Lahiri took a position at either side of the door while the other four stood behind them.  Amarbabu asked Nalini if that would be better to surrender to the police, and accept arrest.  But NaliniGhose was adamant.  He refused to surrender and asked his comrade to fight to the death.  Amar Babu readily agreed and took the position to attack the police. The police officer once again knocked at the door and asked the activists to open the door. Nalini Ghose threatened the police that they would all be killed if they try to enter the shelter. And with that threat, he opened fire. The police force was not ready for the sudden attack. They retreated. At that instant, Amarbabu once again suggested that it might be better for them to escape for the time being. The activists agreed with him and changed their plan of attacking the police force.

After their escape, they planned Amarnath Babu’s safe exit from Gauhati. To execute this plan, revolutionary activists, Nalini Ghose, Prabhaslahiri, Manindra Rai, Marendra Banerjee, Prabudh Dasgupta, Nalini Bagsi and Taraprasanna De from both Athgaon and Fancy Bazar shelters met at Nabagraha hill on 9^th June (January?). However, before their plan could be materalised, the activists were surrounded by police from three sides on 9^th January. Nalini Ghose suggested that he would try to stop the police force from advancing while his associates should escape. But his comrades vehemently opposed this decision. However, Ghose insisted that they should all leave while they could and started shooting at the police. Naren Banerjee, Prabudh Dasgupta, Nalini Bagsi and Tara Prsanna De try to escape running along the bank of the lake with the police force close on their heels. Naren Banerjee was caught by the police after chasing him for about a kilometer. Taraprashanna De was arrested as he tried to advance toward the lake. He was shot in the belly. Manindra Rai was also hit by a bullet in the leg but he managed to escape. The next day, however on 10^th January, the police succeeded to arresting him from a cemetery, identifying  him from the bullet mark.  Prabhas Lahiri  was also wounded and  finally he was arrested at Kamaksha temple. Nalini Ghosewho  helped his associates to escape was lying  seriously wounded and unconscious at the foot of the Nabagraha hill.  He was also arrested. A 380-bore revolver was recovered from him. According to eyewitnesses, 30 police personnel were wounded in this whole operation⁸. But it was a grand success for the British Government. Five important revolutionaries were arrested. “They were tried by special commissions under the Defense of India Act in two separate cases. Nalini Ghosh had been sentenced to 7 years, imprisonment for attempted murder, Tara Prasanna De, Narendra Benerji , Manindra Ray and Prabash Lahiri to 3 years imprisonment each under the Arm Act.”⁹ Nabin Chandra Bordoloi was their pleader during the trail¹⁰.

References –

^{1.                  Arunudoi, 17 June, 3 Ra Ashar, 1383 Bangla., During the Freedom Movement of India a glorious national history  was produced at the heart of Gauhati.}

^{2.                  ( Arunudoi, 17 June, 3 Ra Ashar, 1383 Bangla., During the Freedom Movement of India a glorious national history  was produced at the heart of Gauhati. )}

^{3.                  (The Statesman, Friday, September 3, 1976. OBITUARY ,Dr. JadugopalMukharjee.)}

^{4.                  ,( HOME POLITICAL –B NO. 315 – 319 AUGUST 1919 WEEKLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR CENTRL INTELLIGENCE ( NATIONAL ARCHIEVE) P3, Memorandum dated simla, the 19thjuly 1919. )}

^{5.                  ( Page 139 and 140. HOME POLITICAL –B NO. 315 – 319 AUGUST 1919 WEEKLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR CENTRL INTELLIGENCE ( NATIONAL ARCHIEVE) P3; Memorandum dated simla, the 19thjuly 1919. (WEEKLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR CENTRL INTELLIGENCE, dated simla, the 7thjuly 1919 (Revolutionary conspiracy in india :  The following are extracts and summaries of reports received from the intelligence branch CID Bengal, for the weeks ending June 18th and 25th.)}                 

^{6.                  (Goswami, Indreswar, BharatarSwadhinataSangramarPrekshapatatAsamarSamajbadiAndoolanAruKeijanmanAklantaJujaru, Nagaon, 2009, P-40)}

^{7.         ( HOME POLITICAL –B NO. 315 – 319 AUGUST 1919 WEEKLY REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR CENTRL INTELLIGENCE ( NATIONAL ARCHIEVE) P3. Memorandum dated simla, the 19thjuly 1919. )}

^{8.                  HOME POLITICAL – B: Pro. No. 581 – 84, May 1918 :Weekly Report of Director Criminal Intelligence. (National Archive) P-1}

^{9.                  (HOME POLITICAL – B :NPS . 581 – 84, May 1918, Weekly Report of the Director of Central Intelligence Dated Simla, the 11th May, 1918 .)}

^{(Goswami, Indreswar, Bharatar Swadhinata Sangramar Prekshapatat Asamar  Samajbadi Andoolan Aru Keijanman Aklanta Jujaru, Nagaon, 2009, P-40)}