After returning from Allahabad Azad made Bhagwati Charan his Second-in-Command. The attitude of the British government made it clear that it won’t pardon or remiss the death sentences of his comrades. The appeals were going to fail. There was no hope.
Azad started working on plans to rescue his comrades from police custody. He thought that if his rescue bid succeeded it will be a great blow to the British government which could shake it to the very foundations. It would create real sensation and the stock of the revolutionaries would go up several notches among the masses. Azad’s plan required some specific weapons because they will have to contend with police which will be armed. He needed a car to transport the weapons. And the weapons will have to be hidden in some rented house. The tenants must not arouse any suspicion. So, there must be some woman to give the house the family lived look. So, the plan included Durga Bhabi and Sushila Didi, both members of the organisation.
Azad rented a house on Bahawalpur Road. Both the women shifted in and started living there. The neighbours thought that it was some family that had moved in.
The revolutionaries facing bomb factory cases were kept in two different prisons, Lahore Central Jail and a Bostral Jail situated at a remote place. Bhagat Singh was in the Central Jail. He requested to the authorities that he be allowed to meet his Bostral Jail comrades to enable him to prepare to common defence. The request was accepted. On 1st June, 1930 Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt were to be transferred from Central Jail to the Bostral Jail for the same purpose.
Azad’s plan was to attack on the police party when the two prisoners would be brought out to put them in the van bound for Bostral Jail. The revolutionaries were to use bombs and revolvers. A car would be waiting at a suitable place to get away with the freed prisoners.
Azad made two group for the attack. The first group was to launch attack with bombs and the other was to follow with revolver attack.
The plan was conveyed to Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt. Bhagat Singh suggested to Azad that the action outside the Bostral Jail would be safer as there were few guards there. But this plan had a drawback. There was a wide road nearby that led to Central Jail. The police could quickly reach the Bostral Jail through that road for the Central Jail. And the get away car where it was supposed to be would’ve been too far the freed prisoners to reach in safe time. Hence, Azad decided to attack right outside the Central Jail. Bhagat Singh and Dutt were informed about the final plan. It was risky. Too much shooting was expected. It was clear that both the warring sides would suffer heavy casualties. But the militants were ready to pay the price. Death could not frighten them. They were ever ready to lay down their lives for a cause. The bomb group was to be headed by Bhagwati Charan and the revolver group was in the command of Azad.
A few days before the operation Bhagwati Charan went to the forest situated on the bank of the river Ravi along with Sukhdev Raj and Bachchan. They had gone there to test a bomb the kind of which they were to use in the above operation. There, a tragedy struck. The bomb exploded in the hand of Bhagwati Charan. His hand was blown away. His associates rushed closer to see the damage. Sukhdev Raj and Bachchan himself was badly injured by the bomb shrapnel. They were bleeding. But Bhagwati Charan was critical.
Azad saw Sukhdev Raj and Bachchan coming on a tonga. They were crying in pain. Their legs were bandaged and the bandages were soaked in blood.
“What happened?” a worried Azad asked.
“It’s a tragedy. The bomb went off in Bhagwati’s hand. He is there in jungle in a very bad shape, Azad Bhaiyya. We didn’t want to leave him but he forced us to come to you saying—“I’ve bled to much. I won’t survive. I can’t reach Bahawalpur in this state. And my condition will raise suspicions. Better go to Azad and tell him about this accident. Don’t worry about me. Whatever will be will be.” That’s how we came to you,” Sukhdev Raj reported.
Azad got them off the tonga. All the revolutionary party member learnt about the accident. Azad sent Yashpal to the jungle to see Bhagwati Charan. He found comrade Bhagwati in critical condition. He was dying and wished to meet Azad before death. But it was too late. Bhagwati wanted the operation to go on regardless of his tragedy and Bhagat Singh freed.
Bhagwati was groaning in great pain. But how could Yashpal take him to any doctor or to hospital? There was not stretcher or cot to carry him. Yashpal departed to arrange for a cot and first aid thing.
The forest was at some distance and the militants had no vehicles. Yashpal could return with cot, bed sheet and first aid drugs only at night. He found Bhagwati Charan dead. The ill timed demise of Bhagwati was a great blow. Yashpal was grief stricken. He wrapped the dead body in the bedsheet and returned to Azad empty handed.
The death of Bhagwati Charan shocked the entire group. All the member sat in mourning. In the morning Azad went to the jungle to dispose off the dead body. He got the body buried at the same. They couldn’t bring it to the city’s cremation ground as it posed danger.
Bhagwati Charan’s widow Durga Bhabi couldn’t even see her husband for the last time. She bravely bore out her tragedy, without wailing or creating a scene. The mishap had to be kept secret for the success of the operation. Azad offered his condolence through a letter—
“Durga Bhabi,
Your courage and fortitude is commendable. I have no words to appreciate it. Now our honour is in your hands. If the neighbours come to know of the death of our comrade and the manner it happened our entire plan would go burst. Please save our honour as a mother does. I am like your son. I can understand your feelings. But you two had buried our personal feelings the very day you joined the organisation. This difficult times testing our patience. I again request you to bear with this grave period for a few more days.
Yours
Azad
It was the last wish of the departed soul that Bhagat Singh be saved from the hangman’s noose. Now the operation to rescue Bhagat Singh became more important for Azad because it was the only way they could pay tribute to their dead comrade. He reached the Central Jail with his group on due time and all took positions at their preplanned spots. All was set for the attack.
When Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt came out of the jail Bhagat Singh didn’t give the pre arranged signal of ‘Go’. He and Batukeshwar Dutt quietly walked to the ‘Prisoners Transport’ van and set inside. They ignored the presence of rescue party. The van started and was driven away towards Bostral Jail while Azad and his comrades watched utterly puzzled.
It latter became known that Bhagat Singh had changed his mind in the last nights. The death of Bhagwati Charan had made him rethink. He realised that his rescue bid would cause more deaths for his sake which became unacceptable to him. And then, becoming a martyr was his more important goal to awaken the youth of the country by jolting their conscience.
After a few day he wrote to Azad—
The death of Bhagwati Charan has left me shell-shocked. It so much grieves me that I do not wish to live any more. You are the last one of our party, Azad. I do not wish to endanger your life for my freedom. I don’t want any freedom at your risk. That is why I rejected your rescue plan. I hope that after my hanging your party will get infused with new life and inspiration.”
On 23rd March, 1931 Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev wore the noose in their necks and scarified their lives for the cause of the country.
