The story of how a band of 10 young Indian revolutionaries carried out a daring train hold-up a century ago
The year was 1925. Members of the newly established Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) knew how to secretly procure arms and ammunition that they needed for the armed revolution against the British colonial rule. They had an opportunity to buy new weapons at affordable prices, and they could get as many weapons as they needed; so they were ready and willing to seize the big opportunity. The availability of weapons or martial skills was not a problem, but money was. Thousands of rupees were urgently required to purchase arms and ammunition that had arrived by a ship. The revolutionaries were in desperate need of money, but there was no one around to donate or even lend it. Those were all men of great integrity and impeccable moral character. Robbing a particular individual would be wrong, so they decided to loot a government property, the railway cash.
A daring plan to rob the 8-Down Saharanpur-Lucknow Passenger Train was made by the young activists of the HRA. Their target was an iron safe in the guard’s compartment, containing cash collections from various railway stations enroute from Saharanpur to Lucknow. In the beginning, they were a bit hazy about the plan of action. At first, they thought they would capture the telegraph office and steal the cash bags from the train standing at some small station, but then they just dropped the idea finding it impractical as putting this idea into action required additional manpower. They finally agreed to go ahead with the plan to stop the train somewhere near Lucknow by pulling the emergency chain and then take away the cash bags. They decided to pull the chain in a second-class compartment as they were not sure if the chain-pulling system would work in the third-class compartment.
Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Sachindranath Bakshi, Mukundi Lal, Manmathnath Gupta, Banwari Lal, Murari Lal, and Keshab Chakravarty — a total of 10 young men were involved in this plan. Most of them were only about 22 years old, lean, and not physically very strong. On the evening of August 9, the revolutionaries boarded the train at Shahjehanpur, a previous station, having four brand new German-made Mauser C96 pistols with more than 50 cartridges with each pistol. They divided into two groups. While Lahiri, Bakshi, and Ashfaqullah as the group leader got into a second-class compartment, the remaining seven entered a third-class compartment, including Bismil leading the group.
As the train approached Kakori, a lesser-known village near Lucknow back then, those in the second-class compartment pulled the chain, bringing the train to a halt. There was still a little of daylight. The revolutionaries went into action as soon as the train halted. The guard was immediately pinned down on the ground. While a few kept watch on the railway track, the rest rushed for the heavy iron safe and pushed it out of the guard’s compartment. Passengers were asked to stay inside the train and not to look out. They were assured that the revolutionaries were after government property and intended them no harm. Sporadic gunshots were fired into the air to ensure compliance.
With a hammer and chisel, the young men were trying hard to open the safe, but it continued to resist their tools. Time was running out for them. Seeing the situation, Ashfaqullah, one of those watching the guard, handed his pistol to Manmathnath, and took charge of the hammer. Strongest of them, he hit the safe hard and broke it open. Suddenly, the revolutionaries saw a train from Lucknow side approaching. Bismil immediately instructed them to conceal their weapons. While everybody held his breath, the train sped fast. The cash bags were removed and tied up in a bed sheet. The job was finished in time. They rushed into bushes and then fled to Lucknow. The money and the arms were taken to safe places, and the revolutionaries left for their respective towns separately.
(The story is based on the written description of Kakori Train Incident from ‘Ram Prasad Bismil Ki Aatmkatha’ by Ram Prasad Bismil and ‘History of the Indian Revolutionary Movement’ by Manmathnath Gupta.)
Shubhra Atreya
Content Writer
IT Department
Swami Vivekanand Subharti University
