Chittagong Summer of 1930

by Manoshi Bhattacharya

  Fakir Rai Choudhury (Jibendra) (1915–93): Belonged to a wealthy family and was the famous football player of Collegiate School; joined the revolution in the second phase and helped by keeping contraband items in his house and supporting the group with money; was arrested in 1933 and held for five years.

  Fazlur Rehman: Jail warder who tried to help Surjya Sen escape from Chittagong Jail.

  Gagan Ghose: The bandit who looked after Biren De till he died.

  Gamma: See Prafulla Das.

  Gandhi: Also called Malang Baba, Mahatma or Bapu.

  Ganesh Ghosh (b. 22 June 1900, d. 22 December 1992): Introduced to Surjya Sen in 1919 by Ananta Lal Singh; took part in the Ashahjog Aandolan; was arrested in the 1923 Maniktala Bomb Case but was acquitted; arrested on 1 October 1924 under the Bengal Ordinance and released in 1928; was one of the five leaders in the CAR; led the police line attack on the night of 18 April 1930; was separated from the main group on the night of 18 April 1930; took part in the Feni encounter on 22 April 1930; went into hiding in Kolkata and then in Chandannagar; surrendered to the police on 28 June 1930; took part in the Dynamite Conspiracy; sentenced to transportation for life and was sent to the Andamans; released in 1946; joined the Communist Party and was arrested because the party was at the time considered an illegal one and served nearly ten years in jail in both colonial and independent India; was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1967; became president of the Biplob Teerth Chattogram Smriti; oversaw the building of Shaheed Surya Sen Bhavan in 1987.

  Girish Ghose: The unbelieving playwright who became a devotee of Ramkrishna Paramahansa and his wife Sri Ma.

  Gobindo: A first-ranker who had been reserved for the second phase of the operation; helped the revolutionaries after the Battle of Jalalabad.

  Gobindo-da: The manservant in Ananda Prasad Gupta’s home.

  Golab Babu (Gulab Singh): Ananta Lal Singh’s father.

  Gopi Nath Saha (Gopi): Killed Earnest Day mistaking him to be Sir Charles Tegart and was hanged.

  Haralal Choudhury (1908–98): Joined Surjya Sen while still a student in Saroatali School; introduced Sukumar Bhowmik, Shourindra Dutt Choudhury and Sailesh Ray; headed the Mir Sarai, Kumilla and Feni zilas; distributed pamphlets outside Chattogram on the night of the CAR; accompanied Lokenath from Chattogram to Kumilla; was arrested in 1932 under the Bengal Ordinance; passed his BA and law exams while in jail; released in 1938; taught in various schools in both colonial and independent India; settled in independent India.

  Haran (Shourindra Mohan Choudhury): Part of Railway line 1 wrecking team; his mama was the sub-inspector who tried to search Ananta Lal Singh, Ganesh Ghosh, Jibon Ghoshal and Ananda Prasad Gupta at the Feni railway station, was shot and yet refused to identify Ananta Lal Singh in the police line-up.

  Harendralal Chakraborty: Took part in the attack on the cricket ground on 7 January 1934 led by Krishna Choudhury – a protest against the sentence passed on Surjya Sen; he was severely wounded during the encounter and arrested; hanged on 5 June 1934 in Midnapore Jail along with Krishna Choudhury.

  Hari Gopal Bal (Tegra): Lokenath Bal’s youngest brother; Ananda Prasad Gupta’s classmate; he took part in the CAR and died in the Battle of Jalalabad.

  Hari Narayan Chandra (Hari-da): Taught the young revolutionaries bomb making; was incriminated in the murder of Rai Bahadur Bhupen Chatterji during a meeting at Alipore Central Jail; was arrested and tried along with Nadia’s Ananta Hari Mitra, Chattogram’s Sukhendu Dutt, Dhaka’s Birendra Chatterji, Chattogram’s Pramod Ranjan Choudhury and seven others; he and Ananta Chakraborty were sent to the Burma Jail to serve a life sentence.

  Haripada Bhattacharya (1914–93): Was a student of Saroatali High School; single-handedly killed Khan Bahadur Ahsanulla on 30 August 1931; underwent severe torture and was blinded in one eye; was tried by a judge and jury and was declared free to go; the case was sent to the high court which sentenced Haripada to the Andamans; released in 1946 along with Ananta Lal Singh, Ganesh Ghosh and the others; settled in Siliguri in independent India.

  Haripada Mahajan: The son of a wealthy family; was a part of the police line attack team on the night of the CAR; took part in the Battle of Jalalabad; waited in hiding for eight months for Surjya Sen to send him a call, then left for Burma together with Bhabatosh Bhattacharya; fell ill and died in 1942 while still in Burma.

  Helfferich: The contact in Batavia who was involved in the Indo-German conspiracy hatched during WW I.

  Hemendu Bikash Dastidar (1914–74): Was a student of the Chattogram Municipal High School and was in class 9 when he joined Surjya Sen’s group; had picked a fight with Karunamoy over the debate topic ‘The pen is mightier than the sword’; was a part of the police line attack team on the night of the CAR; took part in the Battle of Jalalabad; went into hiding and used the alias Boro-khoka, was arrested on 28 August 1932 while coming out of the mess at 130, Maniktala Street; was tried along with Ambika Chakraborty and Saroj Kanti Guha in the Supplementary Armoury Raid Case Trial and was acquitted; was rearrested immediately under the Bengal Ordinance; was released in 1938; settled in Chattogram which became a part of East Pakistan and then Bangladesh.

  Heramba Bal: His Dodge could not be used for the CAR; was arrested and tried but was acquitted for lack of evidence.

  Himangshu Bhowmik (Raja): Who killed a traitor.

  Himangshu Bimal Chakraborty: Took part in the attack on the cricket ground on 7 January 1934 led by Krishna Choudhury – a protest against the sentence passed on Surjya Sen; he was severely wounded during the encounter and died in hospital.

  Himangshu Bimal Sen (Andu): Ananda Prasad Gupta’s classmate; kept watch on Inspector Sharada Bhattacharya’s house; took part in the CAR and suffered fatal burns that night.

  Horen Sen: Ram Krishna’s friend.

  Hriday Ranjan Das: Was Madhusudan Guha’s father’s godown manager; he had taken charge of the trunk that Madhusudan (who was then out on bail in the CAR Case) had smuggled into the godown; accompanied by Robi Sen, dressed in a sari, had visited Pritilata Waddadar’s father and taken one of his properties on rent for the Dynamite Conspiracy; after Madhusudan was arrested in the Dynamite Conspiracy, Hriday opened the trunk and discovered the landmines; he was in the process of burying them when he was caught by the police; was sentenced for five years of hard labour at the Andamans; settled in Chattogram and passed away in 1997.

  Indumati Singh (modified later to Sinha) (b. 1900, d. 5 May 1967): Elder sister of Ananta Lal Singh and Nand Lal Singh; was connected with the revolutionaries since 1923; built up a women’s group in 1928 and offered them physical education, training in martial arts and weapons training; put herself in charge of the fund collection drive to pay for the CAR case; helped in the Dynamite Conspiracy; was arrested in Kumilla after the murder of Judge Stevens in 1932 and detained without trial for the next five years at Hijli; was a practising homeopath before she was jailed; passed her matriculation exams while in jail.

  Jadu Gopal Mukherji: Member of the Indo-German conspiracy hatched during WW I.

  Jagadish Roy: Brother of Kalarpol martyr Swadesh Roy.

  Jaitra Mohan Das: Haripada Mahajan’s uncle.

  Jashoda Ranjan Pal (1900–28): Served as lance naik of the 49 Bengal Regiment in the First World War; was amongst the first-rankers who joined Surjya Sen’s group in 1918; was responsible for weapons training; moved to Kolkata with a job in the customs office at Maniktala and worked with the Jugantar group helping to manufacture bombs; met Ananta Lal Singh and Ganesh Ghosh once again in Kolkata after the Paraikora dacoity; was associated with Gopi Nath Saha who murdered Earnest Day in January 1924; arrested in the Maniktala bomb conspiracy in 1924; sentenced for seven years to Dhaka Central Jail where he contracted tuberculosis and died in 1928.

  Jatindra Mohan Sengupta (shortened to J.M. Sengupta or J.M. Sen; also referred to as Deshpriya): Defended Santosh-da, Surjya Sen and Ambika-da in the Suluk Bahar case; Premananda’s case for the murder of Sub-inspector Prafulla Roy.

  Jatin
dranath Das: Jatin Das of the Anushilan Party who worked with Bhagat Singh.

  Jibon Ghoshal (Makhon) (b. 1910, killed 1 September 1930): A year senior to Ananda Prasad Gupta in school; forged his father’s signature to withdraw money for the revolution, lent the family Essex to transport the burn victims – Tarakeshwar Dastidar and Ardhendu Shekhar Dastidar; drove the Dodge to the AFI armoury for the raid; came away with Ananta Lal Singh, Ganesh Ghosh and Ananda Prasad Gupta who were taking the burnt Himangshu Bimal Sen from the police lines to a safe place in the city and as a result was separated from the main group; took part in the Feni encounter; had chickenpox by the time he reached Kolkata; went into hiding in Chandannagar along with Ananta Lal Singh, Ganesh Ghosh and Ananda Prasad Gupta; was killed during the Chandannagar encounter on 1 September 1930.

  Jitendra Mohan Dasgupta (Jiten Das): Payaj Kanti Choudhury and Pulin Ghose’s classmate; took part in the CAR; died in the Battle of Jalalabad.

  Jitendra Nath Lahiri: Part of the Indo-German conspiracy which was hatched during WW I.

  J.K. Ghoshal: Jibon Ghoshal’s father’s elder brother; represented the revolutionaries at court.

  Jogendramohan Gupta: Father of Deboprasad and Ananda Prasad Gupta.

  Jogesh Majumdar (Jayadrath): Had been responsible for keeping Kali Kinkar safe; worked at the AB Railway Institute at Pahartali and had taken the responsibility of providing the signal for the attack during both the first failed attempt and the second successful attack.

  Jogesh: A responsible first-ranker who had been reserved for the second phase of the operation.

  Joteen Mookerjee (Bagha Joteen; Joteendra Nath Mookerjee; Jatindra Nath Mukherjee) (b. 7 December 1879, d. 10 September 1915): Part of the Indo-German conspiracy hatched during WW I.

  Julu-da: See Nagendranath Sen.

  Jyoti Prasad Gupta (called Chotkun by the family): Deboprasad and Ananda Prasad Gupta’s youngest brother.

  Jyotish Bhowmik (Jyotish-da): Who sent books to Ananta Lal Singh at Alipore Central Jail.

  Jyotish Ghose: Accompanied Subhas Chandra Bose, Deshpriya Jatindra Mohan Sengupta, and Nripen Banerjee to Chattogram for the Congress Assembly of May 1929. Ananta Lal Singh had met him in Kolkata soon after the Paraikora dacoity in 1923. He remembers him as someone who read copiously. He is possibly the same person who inspired Gopi Nath Saha to kill Tegart.

  Jyotsna-di: Ananda’s Chhor-di.

  Kali Kinkar De (Kali or Kali Kinkar) (b. 1910, d. 4 September 1989): Recruited when he was in class 9 by his juniors from school – Pulin Ghose and Binod Bihari Dutt who took him to Kalipada Chakraborty and Surjya Sen in 1928; was a part of the police line attack team but had been sent off by Surjya Sen to inform the pamphlet distribution teams about the change in timings and as a result arrived after the police lines had been taken on the night of the CAR; took part in the Battle of Jalalabad; after the battle he left the wounded Binod Bihari Dutt in the care of his sister at Fatehabad and went home where he found his parents had arranged a match for him; married Premlata; took part in the Dynamite Conspiracy but succeeded in evading arrest; took part in both the first failed attempt and the second successful attack led by Pritilata Waddadar on the AB Railway Institute at Pahartali; carried a reward of Rs 1,000/- on his head; was arrested in December 1933; shared a cell with Sudhindra Dasgupta at Chittagong Jail; sentenced to transportation for life at the Andamans; his wife Premlata committed suicide when she learnt of his sentence; described the last hours of Surjya Sen’s life to the inmates of the Cellular Jail in the Andamans; released in 1945; settled in Chattogram which became a part of East Pakistan and later Bangladesh.

  Kali Prasanna Choudhury: Ram Krishna Biswas’s brother-in-law.

  Kalicharan Ghose: The author of Rolls of Honour; looked after Ananda Prasad Gupta and Jibon Ghoshal in Kolkata.

  Kalipada Chakraborty (Kali or Pundit) (1908–92): Joined Surjya Sen’s group in 1923; was a Sanskrit scholar which earned him the name Pundit; was a part of the Telephone Bhavan wrecking team on the night of the CAR; took part in the Battle of Jalalabad; went with Ram Krishna Biswas to assassinate Mr Craig but killed Inspector Tarini Mukherji instead on 1 December 1930; was arrested and received a sentence of transportation for life and was sent to the Andamans; released in 1946; joined the Communist Party; lived in Chattogram even after partition.

  Kalpana Dutt (actually Kalpana Dutt Gupta but had shortened her surname to Dutt; called Bhulu by family; code name Rama) (b. 1913, d. 8 February 1995): Assisted in the Dynamite Conspiracy; absconded to join Surjya Sen’s group but was arrested; absconded again while out on bail; escaped from the Gairala encounter; maintained meticulous notes on the preparation of explosives; was involved in the plot to kill District Magistrate H.S. Hands; was arrested after the Gohira encounter; tried along with Surjya Sen and Tarakeshwar Dastidar; sent to Hijli Jail; Rabindranath Tagore wrote to the governor requesting Kalpana’s release in 1938; Reverend C.F. Andrews met the governor requesting her release as did Mahatma Gandhi; released in 1939; joined the Communist Party; married the Communist Party leader P.C. Joshi in 1943.

  Kalyani Das: The elder sister of Bina Das; started the Girl Student Societies.

  Kamala Banerjee (later Mukherji) (b. 1914): Member of Jugantar; helped Kalpana Dutt during the Dynamite Conspiracy; was arrested towards the end of 1931 under the Bengal Ordinance; released in 1938.

  Kamal-ud-din (b. 1910); Son of a farmer; joined Surjya Sen’s group in 1930; realizing that Ardhendu Guha, who was then out on bail, was meeting Surjya Sen in Sharat De’s house and that the village had been surrounded by the army and the police, Kamal-ud-din rushed with the warning and took them into his own house and hid them inside the women’s quarter, thus saving them that day as Muslim homes were seldom searched; joined the Communist Party and lived in Chattogram after partition.

  Kamini Dutt of Kumilla: Advocate who represented a revolutionary in the CAR trial.

  Kanailal Dutta: Chandannagar lad who was a part of Barin Ghose’s team; killed the traitor Narendra Nath Gossain within the jail premises and was hanged for the crime.

  Kanchanlata: The Christian lady who acted as hostess to Ananta Lal Singh, Ganesh Ghosh, Ananda Prasad Gupta and Jibon Ghoshal in Khidirpur.

  Kazi Nazrul Islam: A poet famous for his spirited verses that encouraged the fight for freedom; settled in independent India after partition; was declared the national poet of Bangladesh.

  Kebla-da: See Monoranjan Rai.

  Khirod Mahajan: Was in the pamphlet distribution team

  Khirod Banerjee (1912–48): Lived in the Pahartali Railway Quarters; joined Surjya Sen’s group in 1929; researched the AFI armoury before the CAR; was a part of the AFI armoury attack team on the night of the CAR; took part in the Battle of Jalalabad; was advised by Surjya Sen to leave Chattogram since he was not familiar with the local dialect; was arrested from Canning in 1935; was detained without trial for three years; died of tuberculosis in 1948.

  Khirodprabha Biswas (1888–1996): The landlady at the Gairala shelter who looked after Surjya Sen, Kalpana Dutt, Shanti Chakraborty, Manilal Dutt and Brajen Sen; was arrested after the encounter on 16 February 1933 along with Surjya Sen and Brajen Sen; released in 1938; settled in Kolkata after independence and partition.

  Khoka-da: See Monoranjan Dasgupta Khoka Sen: Ram Krishna Biswas’s friend.

  Khoka: See Deben De.

  Khoka: See Deboprasad Gupta.

  Khudiram Bose: Threw a bomb at what he thought was Mr Kingsford’s carriage and ended up killing Mrs and Ms Kennedy in April 1908. He was a part of Barin Ghose’s team.

  Kiran Sen (1915–98): Joined the revolution in its second phase; beheaded the traitor Zamindar Netra Sen on 9 January 1934, three days before Surjya Sen was hanged; he was helped by Rabindra Nandi; went into hiding in Rangoon; arrested from Rangoon and held without trial until 1938; his role in the murder was a well-kept secret until independence; settled in independent India.

  Kobi Nabinchandra Sen: An ICS officer who was penalized for writing in favou
r of independence.

  Kobi: The Kobi and Gurudev are references to the poet Rabindranath Tagore.

  Kobiraj Jayanta Dasgupta: Ranadhir Dasgupta’s father.

  Krishna Choudhury (b. 1912, hanged 5 June 1934): Was a part of the group that beat up Karunamoy for announcing the debate on the topic ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’; had taken his uncle’s rifle for the CAR and his uncle, who was a lawyer, had reported the loss of the rifle and the fact that his nephew was missing; took part in the CAR; participated in the Battle of Jalalabad after which his family sent him out of Chittagong to hide amongst the Chakma tribes; returned after two years and led the attack on the cricket ground on 7 January 1934 – a protest against the sentence passed on Surjya Sen; he was severely wounded during the encounter and arrested; hanged on 5 June 1934 in Midnapore Jail.

  Kundaprabha Sengupta (Kunda; code name: Kobi) (1917–90): Introduced by Mahendra Choudhury; sheltered Surjya Sen in her home in Sripur; kept the revolutionaries’ writings hidden in her home; was arrested for being in possession of seditious writings and sentenced in 1934 to six months of hard labour; rearrested again under Shantrashbad Virodhi Aain until March 1935.

  Lady Macbeth: Code name for hostess at Jeshtapur shelter – Kutir.

  Lal Mia: The signaller at Feni railway station.

  Lal Mohan Sen: The son of a wealthy family; recruited by Ananda Prasad Gupta; led the Railway line 1 wrecking team; confessed during the CAR case and was the last to retract his statement; was said to have beaten up a convict overseer in the Chittagong Jail which led to a search of the jail; was sent to the Andamans and released in August 1945; returned to his home in Sandwip Island; was killed within three or four days of his return, while trying to stop a communal riot.