On this day freedom fighter Satyendranath Bose was hanged to death by the British.
Following the attempt by Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki to assassinate judge Douglas Kingsford in 1908, the British administration had intensified raids across Bengal and Bihar and in the same year arrested about 40 persons in connection with making bombs.
Their trial came to be known as the Alipore Bomb Case and the arrested included Aurobindo Ghosh, who later was known as Sri Aurobindo, his brother Barin Ghosh, Ullaskar Dutta, as well as Satyendranath and Kanailal Dutta. Most of the arrested were picked up from Barin’s house in Maniktala. They were held in the Presidency Jail in Alipore before the trial.
When one of the arrested, Narendranath Gossain, turned approver, many more arrests were made with information from him.
On Barin’s instruction, Satyendranath and Kanailal shot Narendranath dead on the jail premises. It is believed that Gossain’s death led to the collapse of the case against Aurobindo, who soon turned to a life of spirituality.
Barin was first awarded the death sentence, which was then changed to a life sentence. Satyendranath and Kanailal were hanged to death. Kanailal, who was 20, was executed on November 10; Satyendranath, who was 26, on November 21.