The speech delivered by Ketkar showed, according to the affidavit of the District Magistrate, a pre-knowledge of 'the conspiracy' which had been hatched to murder the Mahatma.
In all probability, the correspondent of the 'Indian Express' was also present, and the fact that a number of photographs of persons on the dais, including Ketkar, were taken at the time and produced before the High Court was corroborative of the function being attended by persons other than invitees. These photographs are before the Commission and show that publicity was given to the meeting and its proceedings, and whatever else it might have been, it was not private.
Ketkar had prior knowledge of the Nathuram Godse 'idea', plan or intention to murder Mahatma Gandhi, and that even if he did write through Balukaka Kanitkar the statement of Ketkar in his affidavit was vague, and that on the material, on the record the Court could not hold that Ketkar made it clear to the audience that he 'did not like the idea of Nathuram Godse contemplating the murder of Mahatma Gandhi'.
'According to the District Magistrate, the speech delivered by the petitioner was objectionable and in a sense inflammatory. To refer to Nathuram Godse as a 'Deshbhakt' patriot and to eulogise him for the act committed by him cannot be treated as a legal or innocuous activity. It may be that it is possible to make a distinction between the eulogy of the assassin for his individual qualities and the eulogy for the act done by him or the praise of the act itself. But that distinction can be made by people of intelligence, ability and subtlety. It is difficult for the ordinary people to understand the subtle distinctions between the two positions. Now, if as a result of indiscriminate praise of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, the District Magistrate apprehends that breach of the peace was likely.
— The Court rejected the submissions by the counsel for Ketkar that the order passed was malafied and was the result of questions asked in the Assembly and in Parliament or that they were the result of any direction given by the Central Government or the State Government or was the consequence of any pressure.
On these grounds the High Court dismissed Ketkar's habeas corpus petition.
THE STATEMENT OF BALUKAKA KANITKAR
20.102 The next document that is relevant in this connection is Ex. 81, dated 10 May 1948, which is Balukaka Kanitkar's statement made to the Police in the Gandhi Murder Case. He stated that in the second week of July 1947 Nathuram Godse under the presidentship of N.D. Apte in Shivaji Mandir in Poona delivered a lecture at which thousands of persons were present including Balukaka himself. In that Nathuram Godse stated that constitutional methods had failed and Hindu Mahasabha had no money and organisers to fight elections. He suggested that they should form secret organisations and take to revolutionary methods and he also hinted that the time had come to do away with the leadership of some of the top ranking Congressmen. There were a number of RSS volunteers there and after the meeting was over, Balukaka Kanitkar heard some of them say that Nathuram was right and that Gandhiji and Nehru were thorns in the establishment of Hindu Raj and hence they should be removed from their path, but Balukaka Kanitkar did not know who those volunteers were and would not be able to identify them. As in Balukaka's view the matters might take an ugly turn, he sent a registered letter to B.G. (Balasheb) Kher, who was in Delhi then, giving him the information of the above meeting and also about the atmosphere developing in Bombay. In that letter he suggested that protective measures should be adopted to safeguard the lives of top ranking Congress leaders, particularly Gandhiji.
CROSS-EXAMINATION OF R.K. KHADILKAR.
R.K. Khadilkar, was an M.P. and a member of the Peasant's and Worker's Party.
20.135 Khadilkar was quite outraged by the fact that while a Congress Government was in power an attempt was made on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, because nobody whether Communist, leftist or politician of any other hue, wanted Gandhiji to be injured, much less killed.
20.137 Before the bomb was thrown the atmosphere was poisoned and after the attempt there was alarm. 'The local police intelligence were almost with us and they knew everything', and, therefore, Khadilkar and his party did not inform the authorities of what was happening. This, in the opinion of the Commission, is an inexcusable alibi.
20.144 When asked why he did not convey the true feelings of the people to the authorities, he said that he was at that time a protestant against the Congress and he thought that they would not take him seriously.
20.145 They all sensed danger to Gandhiji from the camp which was advocating Hindu fanaticism and which was in Poona. He was put a specific question whether he connected the movement with Poona, Nagpur, Allahabad, Delhi or some other place, his reply was 'Poona'. He did not agree with Morarji Desai that the danger to Gandhiji was from three quarters e.g. the Hindu Fanatics, the refugees and the Muslims. As far as his knowledge went, the danger was from a small section of Hindu fanatics belonging to Hindu Rashtra Dal. It was the Hindu Mahasabha papers which were bitterly criticising Gandhiji in Poona. These papers were the 'Kal', the 'Trikal', and the 'Agranee' or the 'Hindu Rashtra'.
20.161 On the first term of reference, therefore, the finding of the Commission is that some persons, including G.V Ketkar, had prior knowledge of the danger to Mahatma Gandhi's life, but with the exception of G.V. Ketkar nobody had any information in regard to the conspiracy of which the architect was Nathuram Godse. No other witness, excepting Ketkar, has deposed to the likelihood of any danger to the life of Mahatma Gandhi from Nathuram Godse, still less of any conspiracy.
Chapter XXI deals with the issue if any one had prior knowledge about the murder. The Commission has relied upon the statements of many witnesses. I am not repeating all the statements only some which have not been previously mentioned have been reproduced here.
21.32 Evidently the Home Minister, Sradar Patel, and his personal staff were being misled by stories of trailing and special groups being on their heels. Brij Kishan Chandiwala stated before the Commission that a police officer had informed him that there were nine conspirators in the bomb case and the police had been able to find out their identity. But what really happened was that the conspirators were eluding all precautions or trailings if there were any.
N.V. GADGIL, WIT. 6 (P)
21.34 The evidence in regard to previous knowledge of N.V. Gadgil really consists of nothing more than what he was told by Keshavrao Jedhe, a member of the Constituent Assembly, and as Gadgil was a member of the Central Cabinet, the Commission has thought it proper to include his evidence under the head 'knowledge of Central Government'.
21.35 The late N.V Gadgil affectionately called Kaka Gadgil was a Minister in the Central Government. He was a prominent resident of Poona. Before he became a Minister he was at the Bar at Poona and was the Secretary of the District Congress Committee, Poona, and was intimately connected with local affairs as he was at one time Vice- President of the Municipality.
21.36 Keshavrao Jedhe used to stay with him. One day Jedhe said to Gadgil: 'Kaka, Punyatli loka kahitari bhayanak ghadvun aannaar ahet, japun raha.', 'Kaka, some people in Poona are out to do something (dangerous) be aware!' Unfortunately, Kakasaheb Gadgil never asked him to elaborate though he says he should have done so. That is because he never thought that Poona people would do anything that would go against Gadgil himself. Jedhe came to Delhi on 15-1-1948 from Poona. He knew that Godse and others had chalked out a plan in Poona and send-offs were being given to them but unfortunately Jedhe told Kaka Gadgil this only on the night of 30th and when Kakasaheb asked him why he did not tell earlier, Jedhe's reply was that he thought that Kaka knew this before. He then disclosed names of three or four persons as well as names of some places but he did not disclose this information to him before the 30th January. There is nothing to indicate that Gadgil conveyed this information to the Police.
21.37 Another portion which is rather important is that within one or two days after 30 January 1948 Gandhiji was to have gone to Wardha because Sardar's idea was that Gandhiji should be persuaded to stay at Wardha an
d should be spared from the daily complaints from Muslims and the Maulanas.
21.38 Fortunately, Gadgil before his death was examined by Pathak as witness No. 6. There he stated that when Jedhe said to him about being cautious the witness thought that it was something against him personally and his reply was: 'What have I done to raise their anger?' and the reply of Jedhe was: 'All right, I have told you what I heard in Poona' and after that the witness had heard nothing from Jedhe. It is unfortunate that Gadgil did not pursue the matter further with his guest; did not ask him what he meant by the cryptic information that he had given and that he should have left the matter there. But that is what happened, another link in the chain of unfortunate omissions.
21.39 Gadgil further stated that at 8.30 pm after the murder on 30 Jaunary 1948, Jedhe met the witness on the veranda of the witness's house in New Delhi and there he said: 'What I had warned you about has happened.' The witness asked Jedhe to give him the details and his reply was: 'Godse and his friends were being feted as they were leaving to murder Gandhiji. There was a function at Tilak Smarak Mandir'. Thereafter the witness kept quiet and nothing could be done. Gadgil also stated that beyond what Jedhe told him he had no other information.
21.40 Gadgil further said that Sardar Patel 'right up to 5.20 pm on the 30th of January' was trying to persuade the Mahatma to allow search at least some visitors to the prayer meeting before they attended the meeting but Mahatma's reply was 'No! It is God's house and nobody can search.' (There is a major discrepancy here Bapu was murdered at 5.17 pm on 30 January, Sardar Patel was with him almost till 5.10 pm that day).
21.49 'The Statesman' of 21 January 1948, Ex. 106A shows that the newspaper had given out the story as follows—
'Present inquiries tend to show that there was a formidable plot on the life of the Mahatma. A police Inspector said the 'The bomb was intended to create confusion even though it was powerful enough to kill many people. The hand grenade was apparently to be used against the Mahatma himself.'
Even other newspapers had said that four men drove away in a small green colour car at the rear of Birla House showing that there were more than one person who were involved in the throwing of the bomb. (See the Times of India, 21 January 1948).
21.57 Commission drew the attention of J.N. Shani to a pamphlet, Ex. 105, which is a document in Hindi, published in Amritsar and alleged to have been distributed in Alwar. This document as produced before the Commission was hand written. It is undated and starts by saying 'Gandhi Murdabad', dishonourable death to Gandhi. It is an anti- Gandhi leaflet accusing Gandhiji of helping Muslims and Pakistan and that people should pray to the Almighty that Gandhi should die. It has also accused Gandhiji of his fast being a farce and called him 'neechatma' a low down fellow. Shani's reply was as follows—
'I would not say that this was the attitude of mind of the Hindus and the Sikhs from Punjab because whatever else might not have happened they could not forget the services rendered by him whenever Hindus and Sikhs were in trouble in the Punjab—Jalianwala Bagh and Guru Ka Bagh are examples—and they would rather like to convert Gandhiji and use his influence rather than to kill him'.
The document, he said, was in line with the political secret movement which was being helped by the Princes through their chieftains thus creating a fifth column in India to take over when the British power withdrew, at least in their respective states which would become free. 'I am particularly mentioning states like Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Baroda, Alwar, Bharatpur, Gwalior and Bhopal. This movement was led by Golwalkar from Nagpur and Bhopatkar from Poona. The concentration of the leadership was in Nagpur and Poona.
THE BAKSHI RAM EPISODE
21.64 One Bakshi Ram was arrested in the last week of January 1948 for robbery; under S. 394 I.P.C., and he was lodged in Agra Central Jail. He claimed to be a one-time associate of Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Datt, the well-known Lahore revolutionaries. This arrest was affected by Senior Superintendent of Police Agra, G.K. Handoo, witness No. 48, and some-how or other Bakshi Ram showed some confidence in Handoo. According to the statement of Handoo, on or about 23 January, Bakshi Ram went on a hunger strike and insisted on seeing Handoo and when Handoo did see him, Bakshi Ram told him that Mahatma Gandhi was certain to be murdered very soon and that he had read in the news papers that Madanlal had been arrested in connection with the explosion of Gun-cotton slab and that Madanlal was an intermediary between him and about seven Maratha young men (Here Maratha is being used as Marathi speaking person and not the Maratha community). Madanlal had asked Bakshi Ram to give instructions to those Maratha young men in pistol shooting which Bakshi Ram did at Gwalior. That was some time in December or a little earlier. These Maratha young men never called each other by name but had designated each other by military ranks like Subedar, Jamadar, etc. (Readers should note that in one of the attacks on Mahatma Gandhi's life at Sevagram, Thatte had pointed to Nathuram and referred to him as their 'Jamadar'.) Bakshi Ram had gathered from the cross talk between these young men that they were learning to shoot pistol to commit a political murder of a very high ranking person in Delhi and when Bakshi Ram read in the papers about Madanlal exploding the bomb he felt convinced that the victim was going to be Mahatma Gandhi.
21.65 Handoo then cross-examined Bakshi Ram and found his story to be consistent. He recorded his statement and sent copies of it to the D.I.B., New Delhi, Inspector General of Police, U.P., B.N. Lahiri and to the D.I.G. Meerut Range B.B.S. Jetley who was on tour at Agra at that time. He did not hear anything further and then Mahatma Gandhi was murdered. In that communication to the Police officers, Handoo gave the descriptions which Bakshi Ram had given to him. Bakshi Ram had also told him that one of those young men who was their leader was a 'Patrakar' journalist from Poona but he neither knew his name or the name of his newspaper.
21.76 In Paragraphs 7 and 9 of Ex. 133, report of Inspector Bannerjee, It stated—
'Should Bakshi Ram be released, as suggested and would the risk be worth it? Personally, Jetley does not mind if the dacoity case goes down provided it brings to light the conspiracy which has been hatched in the States of Gwalior, Bharatpur.... He recommends that unless the Police, here have anything definite at this end, the possibilities of the information given by Bakshi Ram should be investigated....
Jetley is of the opinion that Bakshi Ram is genuinely pained on Mahatmaji's murder and is anxious to give out all he knows. He fasted for 13 days after Mahatmaji's death and is very much moved and, if suitably tackled, would probably lead to something very definite.'
21. 93 G.K. Handoo, a high ranking Police Officer, was empathic that Bakshi Ram had given him information before the murder.
21.94 Bakshi Ram wanted to appear before this Commission and was asked to put in an affidavit of what he wanted to depose but that he has not done.
What Bakshi Ram said may not have been of importance in the investigation between the 20th and 30th January 1948. Bui: the Senior Police Officer, G.K. Handoo, who had initially recorded Bakshi Ram's statement stuck to his claim that Bakshi Ram had made an initial statement before the murder, this is important. Bakshi Ram may have been trying to swing a deal and also exploring a way to escape, but a Senior Police Official, Jetley, felt that if Bakshi Ram could help in exposing the conspiracy, releasing him from jail was worth the risk. Sanjevi and Rana along with Nagarvala had committed a series of blunders during the ten days between the bomb attack and the murder; unfortunately Sanjevi and Rana were in a position to scuttle the initiative shown by Jetley. Bakshi Ram may not have proven to be of much use but it must be noted that he named Dr. Parchure and Gwalior before it had become public knowledge about their role in the conspiracy. This factor alone makes Bakshi Ram's statement important. The other fact that Bakshi Ram hailed from the Montgomery District of the Punjab, links him with Madanlal who also hailed from that district, Madanlal had also been active in Gwalior for some time after crossing over to India, this lends further credibility to Bakshi Ram's statement. It is very difficult
to believe that sitting in jail Bakshi Ram could have cooked up a story which had so many credible links to verified facts. Alas, like many other missed opportunities and ignored leads this one too will remain an enigma.
Chapter XXIII of the Kapur Commission's Report deals with the Investigations at Delhi. These are the investigations between 20th and 30th January.
CASE DIARY NO. 3-A
23.32 We have then the most important entry in the case diary, No. 3-A, of Deputy Superintendent Jaswant Singh purporting to be from Bombay. This begins on 22 January at 8 a.m. and closes at 8 pm. It states that at 9.10 am these officers met Nagarvala at his house. 'He said that he had already been apprised of the full facts of this case and that he had already had a talk with higher authorities of Delhi on phone and that he had posted special officers of the C.I.D. at strategic points. He had made proper arrangements for the tracing of the alleged suspects and had posted men on the railway station....' Nagarvala also told them that he did not want them to stay where they were staying because he did not want their arrival to be known to others which would frustrate the arrest of persons and he ordered them to get into mufti and meet him at the C.I.D. Office. At 10.30 am the entry in the diary is as follows:
At this time I along with Inspector reached the office of C.I.D. by taxi and contacted Nagarvala and again acquainted with full facts on the case and an English note, which incorporates the precis of Madanlal's statement with the note of the Superintendent of Police, New Delhi, at its foot, was handed over to Nagarvala Sahib who read this note carefully and kept it. He returned a written note covering this case, which is attached. Nagarvala Sahib was also acquainted with the facts concerning Kirkree. It was also brought to his notice that Madanlal accused had stated that he did not know the name of his associates but had said that he was editor of Hindu Rashtra or Agranee Newspaper, who was of light complexion, aged 33/34 height 5'-6". It is not known whether this editor belongs to Bombay or Poona. Apart from this, he was also acquainted with the descriptions of the three other Mahrattas and 'Maharaj' who according to the accused were his companions. Special stress was laid on the immediate apprehension of the Editor of Hindu Rashtra or Agranee Newspaper, and Kirkree of Ahmednagar, whose mention was specially made by the accused in his statement: So that they may be interrogated, (Taake unse daryaft amal mein lai jaaye).
Lets Kill Gandhi Page 98