After absconding from Mainpuri area Ramprasad moved towards Delhi where Congress Annual Session was scheduled to be held. From Shahjahanpur he drove for Delhi in ambulance as local member of Congress Sewa Samiti.
He was carrying along his book ‘How America Win Freedom.’ A large numbers of copies of which were still with him unsold. He hoped to sell the stock at the convention. Earlier U.P. government had confiscated a big number of the copies of book after banning it. It had generated interest about the book among the people. He wanted to cash in on it.
Ambulances were allowed everywhere in convention without any check or permission. His friends started selling the book posing as Congress workers. Some members of the secret police were present there in civilian clothes. They got wind of the sale of the banned book. The police cordoned off the area quietly.
In the same areas there was Arya Samaj camp. They were selling their own literature. The police mistook it for the outlet where the banned book was reported to be being sold. The police searched the camp. No illegal literature was found there.
Arya Samaji’s were only selling their social reforms books.
Bismil had stationed some of his smart workers at the gate with the instruction that no uniformed policeman was to be allowed in without the permission of the Congress Welcome Committee. Ironically the banned book copies were stocked in a small compartment set up by the side of the Arya Samaj camp tent. There were about 200 copies of the book.
When the search was on Bismil walked into the annexe compartment, wrapped the books in his overcoat and marched out with the load on his shoulder. He was wearing the ambulance staff uniform with a large bright red-cross. He had a hat on his head. No one suspected him and he walked out unchecked.
Ramprasad did not waste time in Delhi. He departed for Shahjahanpur accompanied by some faithful associates. At Shahjahanpur he stayed at an acquaintance’s. The police was alert and busy sniffing out the revolutionaries.
For precaution one of the hiding revolutionaries would leave the house locking the door from the outside to create an impression that no one was inside.
But the police was always nearby. They were searching houses. That is why the locking from outside ploy was employed. But one night an associate arrived and called out to them. The inmates sensed the danger and departed after climbing down the wall.
It was a dark night. The party had travelled only a little distance when a voice rang in air, “Stop! Who goes there?”
Bismil and his companions stopped in their tracks. They were a group of 7-8 youngmen. The young revolutionaries sat down thinking that they had been surrounded.
The voice echoed again, “Stand up or we will start shooting!”
The youngmen obeyed. All stood up.
A police head constable came into the sight. He was holding a gun and was followed by a couple of constables. He peered at the youngmen in the semidarkness and asked, “Who are you and where do you go?”
Bismil replied, “Sir, we are students and we go to railway station.”
“You go where?”
“Lucknow, sir.”
The time was 2 a.m. The train to Lucknow was due to leave at 5 a.m. It made the head constable suspicious. He ordered a constable to light up the lantern he was carrying and examined the faces of the youngmen in its light. He nodded his head.
Yes, all the youngmen looked like students.
He let them go with an advice, “Boys, when you travel in the darkness of the night you must carry along a lantern or a torch to avoid any misunderstanding.”
Bismil and his friends thankfully saluted the police party and cleared off the scene. Now nature played spoil sport. Even before the youngmen could stop laughing at their lucky escape it started raining heavily.
The group had to run into a garden and take shelter under a shed that had thatched roof. It rained in torrents all night. The roof let down water like a sieve. All the boys had dripping cloths which made them shiver as if in high fever. Their teeth clattered uncontrollably. It was a cold winter night of January.
Any way they managed to survive the night of the torment. Early in the morning they ran into a Dharamshala where they dried their clothes and warmed themselves up in the sun. Then, the group went to Shahjahanpur. For safety reasons they buried their guns at a spot. Now the plan was to reach Allahabad.
