Kakori conspiracy | Historical Kakori Train Robbery in India

 The Kakori Train robbery (prapt of Kakori conspiracy) was a train robbery that took place at Kakori, a village near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925,[2] during the Indian independence movement against the British rule in India. It was organized by the Indian revolutionaries of Hindustan Republican Association (HRA).

The robbery was conceived by Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan who were members of HRA, which later became the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. This organisation was established to carry out revolutionary activities against the British Empire with the objective of achieving independence. Since the organisation needed money for the purchase of weaponry, Bismil and his party made a plan to rob a train on the Saharanpur railway lines. The robbery plan was executed by Bismil, Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Sachindra Bakshi, Keshab Chakravarty, Manmathnath Gupta, Mukundi Lal, Murari Lal Khanna and Banwari One passenger was killed.

Robbery –

On 9 August 1925, the Number 8 Down Train was travelling from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow.[6] When it passed Kakori, one of the revolutionaries, Rajendra Lahiri pulled the emergency chain to stop the train and subsequently, the other revolutionaries overpowered the guard. It is believed that they looted that specific train because it was carrying the money bags (taxes) which was being transferred to the British government treasury. They looted only these bags (which were present in the guards' cabin and contained about 8000 ) and escaped to Lucknow. The objectives of this robbery were to:

Fund the HRA with the money of British administration taxed from the Indians.

To protest against the British administration collecting a lot of tax from Indians.

Garner public attention by creating a positive image of the HRA among Indians.

One lawyer, Ahmad Ali, who was a passenger, had got down to see his wife in

the ladies compartment and was killed by a bullet fired by Manmathnath Gupta. This made it a manslaughter case. Following the incident, the British administration started an intense manhunt and arrested several of the revolutionaries who were members or part of the HRA. Their leader, Ram Prasad Bismil was arrested at Shahjahanpur on 26 October 1925 and Ashfaqullah Khan was arrested on 7 December 1926 at Delhi.

Kakori trial –

Forty people were arrested from all over India. Bismil and some others were charged with various offences, including robbery and murder. Fourteen people were released due to a lack of evidence. Two of the accused — Ashfaqullah Khan and Sachindranath Bakshi were captured after the trial. Chandrashekhar Azad reorganized the HRA in 1928 and operated it until his death on 27 February 1931.

Charges pressed against further three men were dropped. Damodar Swarup Seth was discharged due to illness, while Veer Bhadra Tiwari and Jyoti Shankar Dixit were suspected of providing information to the authorities. Two other individuals Banarsi Lal and Indubhushan Mitra came to be approvers in return for a lenient sentence.