The Kakori Train Robbery (also known as the Kakori Conspiracy) was a train robbery that took place on August 9, 1925, in the village of Kakori near Lucknow. It occurred during the Indian independence movement against British rule in India. It was carried out by Indian revolutionaries belonging to the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA).
The robbery was planned by HRA members Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan. The organization later became the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. The HRA was founded with the objective of achieving independence through revolutionary activities against the British Empire. Since the organization needed funds to purchase weapons, Bismil and his associates planned to rob a train on the Saharanpur railway line. The robbery was carried out by Bismil, Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sachindra Bakshi, Keshav Chakraborty, Manmathnath Gupta, Mukundi Lal, Murari Lal Khanna, and Banwari Lal. One passenger was killed during the incident.
The Robbery
On August 9, 1925, when Train No. 8, traveling from Shahjahanpur to Lucknow, was passing through Kakori, one of the revolutionaries, Rajendra Lahiri, pulled the emergency chain to stop the train. The other revolutionaries then overpowered the guard. It is believed that they chose this particular train because it was carrying tax money for the British government treasury. They looted only the bags (which were in the guard's cabin and contained approximately ₹8000) and fled towards Lucknow. The objectives of this robbery were:
To use the British government's funds collected as taxes from Indians to finance the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA).
To protest against the high taxes imposed on Indians by the British administration.
To gain public attention and create a positive image of the HRA among the Indian public.
A lawyer, Ahmed Ali, who was a passenger, went to the women's compartment to meet his wife, and Manmathnath Gupta shot and killed him. This turned the incident into a murder case. After this incident, the British administration launched a massive crackdown, arresting many members and associates of the HRA. Their leaders, Ram Prasad Bismil, was arrested in Shahjahanpur on October 26, 1925, and Ashfaqullah Khan was arrested in Delhi on December 7, 1926.
The Kakori Conspiracy Case
Bismil and several others were charged with serious crimes such as robbery and murder. Fourteen people were released for lack of evidence. Two accused—Ashfaqulla Khan and Sachindra Nath Basu—were rearrested after the trial. Chandrashekhar Azad reorganized the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) in 1928 and led it until his death on February 27, 1931.
The charges against three others were dropped. Damodar Swaroop Seth was acquitted due to illness, while Veer Bhadra Tiwari and Jyoti Shankar Dikshit were suspected of informing the authorities. Two others—Banarasi Lal and Indubhushan Mitra—became government witnesses in exchange for reduced sentences.
Court Proceedings
Charges against 19 accused were dropped (2 became government witnesses, while 17 were released). The trial of the remaining 21 accused began on May 1, 1926, in the Special Sessions Court, presided over by Justice Archibald Hamilton. Abbas Salim Khan, Banwari Lal Bhardwaj, Gyan Chatterjee, and Mohammad Ayub were the government lawyers. Two of the 21 accused, Sachindra Nath Biswas and Lala Hargovind, were released for lack of evidence, while Gopi Mohan became a government witness.
The court deliberately appointed Jagannath Mulla as the government lawyer; he had harbored resentment against Ram Prasad Bismil since 1916, when Bismil had organized a large rally in Lucknow in support of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He had also been the government lawyer in the 1918 Mainpuri Conspiracy Case.
Government officials also bribed several accused to become government witnesses. The trial was primarily based on the statement of Banwari Lal, who had been in contact with the revolutionaries and was involved in planning the robberies carried out by the group at Bamrauli (December 25, 1924), Bichpuri (March 9, 1925), and Dwarkapur (May 24, 1925). Therefore, his statement was used as the main evidence to convict the HRA members.
The Sessions Court delivered its verdict on April 6, 1927, as follows:
Ram Prasad Bismil, Roshan Singh, and Rajendra Nath Lähiri were sentenced to death. Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee, Govind Charan Kar, Rajkumar Sinha, Ramkrishna Khatri, and Mukandi Lal were sentenced to 10 years, while Suresh Chandra Bhattacharya and Vishnu Sharan Dublish were sentenced to 7 years. Bhupendra Nath Sanyal, Ramdulare Tripathi, Prem Krishna Khanna, and Pranabesh Chatterjee were sentenced to 5 years in prison, while the lowest sentence (3 years) was given to Ramnath Pandey and Banwari Lal.
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