Ramprasad Bismil was looking for an opportune moment and place to strike at to put the plan of robbing government money in action. It could solve the financial problem which was crippling the organisation. He was the one who was the most worried over the issue. Others were merely looking up to him as if it were solely his responsibility.
The matter occupied his mind displacing all other thoughts. One day he was travelling by train in the coach next to the guard cabin. He saw the station master at a stop come with a bag and deposit it in the guard cabin.
A clattering sound followed. Bismil got down to investigate. He saw a large iron chest in the cabin and guessed that the bag must have been deposited in it.
The same exercise was repeated at the next railway station. A bag was deposited into the iron chest which was perhaps chained to something in the guard cabin under lock and key.
Bismil made it a point to travel by that train for some more times to investigate the exercise. One day at Lucknow station he saw coolies carrying out the iron chest. He noticed that it was not chained to anything in the cabin. It was obvious that the bag contained money which represented the weekly collection of the various railway stations. It should add up to a huge sum.
Bismil smiled.
That was the treasure we must loot, his mind echoed his thought.
He carefully checked the time table board to learn the origin of the train and the railway stations it covered. It travelled from Saharanpur to Lucknow passing through more than a score of the stations. All the collections went into that chest. He got some other members to check the train schedules.
A plan was made to rob that treasure chest and team was selected. Ramprasad Bismil himself was to lead the operation. The team consisted of Chandra Shekhar Azad, Rajendranath Lahiri, Mukandi Lal, Ashfaq Ullah Khan, Manmathnath Gupt, Banwarilal, Shachindra Bakshi, Murari lal, Kundanlal etc. There were ten members involved.
The idea was to strike at a small station just before the train reached Lucknow. The railway telegraph office was to be seized and the iron chest taken out. It was to be broken open and grabbed whatever money bags it contained.
The plan was discussed and checked several times for loopholes. The station at where the train was to be halted by pulling the chain had already been identified.
The first attempt of the revolutionaries failed. They reached the station late by ten minutes. The train had already passed through. The next try also got botched up somehow.
On the third day on 9th August, 1925 the group boarded the train in the evening at Shahjahanpur. They were carrying hammers, chisels and guns. The youngmen learnt that some other treasury was also on that train besides the railway collections. One of them had went around the train to survey.
He informed that several armed guards or militarymen were also on the train including a high officer.
It was a matter of concern.
Ashfaq warned that the robbery on that day could be dangerous. He suggested the postponement of the operation. But it was too late to abandon the plan. So, the suggestion was overruled.
Ashfaq was confident of Bismil and was like his younger brother. Inspite of being born in a rich family he had joined the revolutionaries driven by a wish to fight for the country’s freedom. From the very beginning he was against the robbery on government treasury. He opined that it would provoke the authorities to hit back massively at the revolutionaries who were poorly equipped and the resourceless yet. Some of the members had called him a coward.
But he was no coward but a farsighted one. That was proved by the event thats followed.
Inspite of the disagreement Ashfaq took full part in the operation. The revolutionaries had four mauzer pistols and small arms besides fifty rounds for each pistol.
The assigned members stopped the train by pulling the chain at Kakori, a small station that fell before Lucknow. The darkness had spread. The curious passengers craned their necks out of the window to know the reason for the stoppage.
The guard came out of his cabin to investigate. Some passengers also tried to alight. Just then armed revolutionaries poured out of a compartment. Some shots were fired in the air and the passengers were ordered back into the train. Two armed youngmen asked the guard to lie on the floor with his face down. He complied without protest.
An overenthusiastic revolutionary fired his mauzer madly. He was not supposed to shoot. Perhaps he was making the best of the shooting opportunity. Bismil screamed at him to cut out the act. But he already had injured a passenger or perhaps he was dead. Bismil wanted no such thing.
Why compound robbery with a murder? But a stupid member had done just that.
Some of the revolutionaries stood guard against the passengers.
The rest brought out the money chest. It was hammered open. They money bags were collected and the ten member revolutionary team disappeared into the nearby jungle. The next morning they reached Lucknow and dispersed.
The amazing thing is that there were 10-12 armed guards or armymen on that train but no one challenged the revolutionaries. The passengers made no trouble because they were told that the operation in progress was to loot the treasury only.
The driver and the engineer both were Englishmen. The two were scared to death. The driver lied down on the engine room floor. The engineer shut himself up in a toilet. The railway staff and the guards were under the impression that the train was attacked by a mob of 40-50 people. The fleeting figures in the darkness had created that illusion.
The success boosted the morale of Bismil sky high. The young revolutionaries learnt that the policemen were no tigers. If challenged boldly they turned into scared rats. It greatly emboldened the youngsters.
All the debts were paid off. The district workers were supplied the money. Immediate plans were drawn up to expand the organisation. A youth group wanted to set up bomb making unit.
Bismil provided the finance.
After solving the financial problem Bismil set out to strengthen the organisation. But sadly some misunderstandings arose in the organisation between the members. The efforts to remove them did not succeed. To add to it the revolutionaries had made some mistakes while looting the government treasury. Those mistakes were proving helpful to the police in identifying and reaching to the robbers of the train. The police had become extremely active. The informers and the secret police had spread a wide net to trap the culprits.
Some members of the organisation had already fallen in the hands of the police and they were spilling their beans. It was suspected that some members not averse to betraying the organisation in exchange for pardon or a nominal sentence.
Lack of experience in such operations had proved expensive. Bismil could not understand what slips they had made. He saw no loophole in his plot. That is why he remained careless after the robbery under the belief that he had done a clean job. The reality was just the opposite. They had left behind a clear trail and tell tale signs.
