The Indian independence movement featured a variety of leaders and methods, including moderate, extremist, and revolutionary efforts by Indian youth, all aimed at ending British rule. This article provides a list of notable conspiracy cases that played a role in achieving India’s freedom.
Check out the list of famous conspiracy cases during British rule in India.
Muzaffarpur Conspiracy Case (1908 AD)
Person Associated:
▪ Khudiran Bose and Praful Chaki.
Objectives of this robbery
▪ To kill the Chief Presidency Magistrate DH Kingsford of Muzaffarpur.
Bomb thrown
▪ They threw bombs on a vehicle of DH Kingsford but he escaped the attack and unfortunately, two British women were killed.
Aftermath
▪ Kudiram Bose was arrested by the Indian British police officer Nandalal Banerjee.
▪ Later Nandalal Banerjee was shot dead by Narendranath Banerjee.
▪ Prafulla Chaki committed suicide.
• Khudiram Bose was the youngest Indian whom the British hung.
▪ On August 11th, 1908, Khudiram Bose, one of India’s most prominent Indian freedom fighters, was executed by the British government at the age of 18.
Alipore Conspiracy Case (1908)
▪ The Alipore Conspiracy Case or Alipore Bomb Conspiracy Case is also known as the Maniktala bomb conspiracy or the Murarupukur conspiracy case.
▪ The Alipore Bomb Case was a significant event in the Indian independence movement. It saw the trial of several Indian nationalists belonging to the Anushilan Samiti in Calcutta, charged with “Waging war against the Government” of the British Raj.
▪ In response to the bombing that occurred in Muzaffarpur on May 1st, 1908, the Police Commissioner called for an emergency meeting to suppress the revolutionary activity in the Maniktolla Secret Society Calcutta.
▪ On May 2nd, 1908, in the early morning hours, the police conducted raids in Calcutta at various locations and arrested around twenty suspected revolutionaries. Sri Aurobindo, who was believed to be the group’s leader, was among those arrested.
▪ The police raids continued throughout the month, resulting in additional arrests. The total number of individuals arrested concerning the case reached around forty.
▪ The trial of the accused in the Alipore Conspiracy Case began in May 1908 and lasted until May 1909 in the Alipore Sessions Court in Calcutta.
Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy Case (1912 AD)
▪ The Delhi Conspiracy Case is also known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy Case or Hardinge Bomb Case.
Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy headed by
▪ Rashbehari Bose
Other Associated Persons
▪ Basant Kumar Biswas, Amir Chand, Avadh Behari, Bhai Balmukund and Lala Hanumant Sahai.
Objectives of this conspiracy
▪ To assassinate the then Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge.
Bomb thrown
• On 23 December 1912, a bomb was thrown at Lord Hardinge’s Howda in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk suburb on the occasion of transferring the capital of British India from Calcutta to New Delhi.
• Lord Hardinge was injured in this bombardment but, the servant behind him holding his parasol was killed.
Aftermath
• On 5 October 1914 Lala Hanumant Sahai was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Andaman Islands.
• Basanta Kumar Biswas was hanged on 11 May 1915 at the Ambala Central Jail in Punjab.
• Amir Chand, Bhai Balmukund, and Avadh Behari were also sentenced to death for their role in the conspiracy.
• Rash Behari Bose has been identified as the bomb thrower.
Peshawar Conspiracy Case (1922-1927 AD)
• The Peshawar Conspiracy Cases were five legal cases between 1922 and 1927 in British India.
• It was a trial against the Mujahirs, a group of Muslims, who were inspired by the communist revolution and went to the USSR for training in 1920.
• Some Mujahirs returned to India in 1921 from Tashkent to incite a revolution.
• The British intelligence got information about this from their Foreign Office and the police arrested the first batch of revolutionaries and sent them to a sham trial.
Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case (1924 AD)
• In this case, newly emerged communists of India were executed by the British Government.
• M N Roy, Muzaffar Ahamed, S A Dange, Shaukat Usmani, Nalini Gupta, Singaravelu Chettiar, and Ghulam Hussain were caught by the Government.
• They were charged: “to deprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty of British India, by complete separation of India from imperialistic Britain by a violent revolution.”
• This case was not a people’s movement but a British movement to sack the upcoming communist leaders of the time.
Kakori Conspiracy Case (1925 AD)
• The Kakori Conspiracy Case is also known as the Kakori train robbery or Kakori Case.
• The Kakori Train robbery occurred at Kakori, a village near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925.
Kakori Train robbery headed by
• The train robbery case was organized by the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) under the leadership of Ram Prasad Bismil.
Other associated persons
• The conspiracy was supported by Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sachindra Bakshi, Keshab Chakravarty, Manmathnath Gupta, Murari Lal Gupta (Murari Lal Khanna), Mukundi Lal (Mukundi Lal Gupta) and Banwari Lal.
Objectives of this conspiracy
• To fund the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) with funds stolen from the British administration.
• To attract public attention by creating a positive image of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) among Indians.
Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929 AD)
• It was a conspiracy of the British Government against the rise of Communism in India.
• The Meerut Conspiracy Case was a controversial court case that lasted from 1929 to 1933 under the British Raj.
Context of the Meerut Conspiracy
• In 1925, the All India Conference of Communists in Kanpur formally launched the Indian Communist Party.
• The primary aim of the Communist Party of India was to build socialism in India.
• This growing influence of the Communist Party among the working class people caused fear in the British government.
• It was also thoroughly ensured that all infiltrations of communist and socialist ideas were propagated to the workers by the Communist Party of India (CPI).
• This caused further concern when the government felt that the ultimate objective of the Communist Party was, “to completely paralyze and overthrow the existing governments in India by means of general strikes and armed insurrections”.
Response of the government
• The government’s immediate response was another conspiracy case, the Meerut Conspiracy Case.
• 31 labor leaders, including three Englishmen, were arrested on conspiracy charges in this case.
• The three Englishmen accused in the Meerut Conspiracy case are Lester Hutchinson, Philip Spratt, and Benjamin Francis Bradley.
• S. A Dange and 32 other persons were arrested on 20 March 1929 and tried under Section 121A of the Indian Penal Code.
• Alone with SA Dang, some of the prime accused in the Meerut conspiracy case were Muzafr Ahamed, S.V Ghate, Dr. G Adhikari, P.C.Joshi, S.S.Mirajkar, Shaukat Usmani, Philip Stratt, etc.
• All of them were arrested on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the British Government of India through strikes and other militant methods.
Conspiracy cases during British Rule in India in a nutshell
| Case Name | Year | Person Associated | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Muzaffarpur Conspiracy Case | 1908 | Khudiran Bose and Praful Chaki | To kill the Chief Presidency Magistrate DH Kingsford of Muzaffarpur |
| Alipore Conspiracy Case | 1908 | Sri Aurobindo Ghosh | It saw the trial of a number of Indian nationalists belonging to the Anushilan Samiti in Calcutta, charged with “Waging war against the Government” of the British Raj. |
| Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy Case | 1912 | Rashbehari Bose (Leader), Basant Kumar Biswas, Amir Chand, Avadh Behari, Bhai Balmukund and Lala Hanumant Sahai. | To assassinate the then Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge. |
| Peshawar Conspiracy Case | 1922-1927 | Set of five legal cases which took place between 1922 and 1927 in British India. | A trial against the Mujahirs, a group of Muslims, who were inspired by the communist revolution and went to the USSR for training in 1920. |
| Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case | 1924 | M N Roy, Muzaffar Ahamed, S A Dange, Shaukat Usmani, Nalini Gupta, Singaravelu Chettiar, Ghulam Hussain | They were charged:“to deprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty of British India, by complete separation of India from imperialistic Britain by a violent revolution.” |
| Kakori Conspiracy Case | 1925 | Ram Prasad Bismil (leader),Ashfaqulla Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Chandrashekhar Azad | To fund the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) with funds stolen from the British administration. |
| Meerut Conspiracy Case | 1929 | S. A Dange, Muzafr Ahamed, S.V Ghate, Dr. G Adhikari, P.C.Joshi, S.S.Mirajkar, Shaukat Usmani, Philip Strat | Arrested on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the British Government of India through strikes and other militant methods. |
Some important one-liners
Q1. Which revolutionary group was involved in the Kakori conspiracy case?
Answer: Hindustan Republican Association (HRA)
Q2. Who was hanged for the Kakori conspiracy case
Answer: Ram Prasad Bismil, Thakur Roshan Singh, Rajendra Nath Lahiri, and Ashfaqullah Khan
Q3. Which year did the Kakori conspiracy case take place?
Answer: 9 August 1925
Q4. Who defended Aurobindo Ghosh in the Alipore conspiracy case?
Answer: Chitranjan Das
Q5. Who was the person to be arrested in the Kanpur conspiracy Case?
Answer: Muzaffar Ahmad, S. A. Dange, Shaukat Usmani, Nalini Gupta
Q6. The Kakori conspiracy case occurred during the tenure of which viceroy of India?
Answer: Lord Reading
Q7. Who was the main accused in the Kakori conspiracy case?
Answer: Ram Prasad Bismil
Famous conspiracy cases during British rule in India Download PDF
