Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were sentenced to death in the Lahore conspiracy case and ordered to be hanged on 24 March 1931. The British authorities advanced the date of execution and the trio were hanged a day before. Jail authorities cremated them secretly and threw their ash in Sutlej river.
The whole nation was sympathetic to them, in fact the deputy jail superintendent Khan Sahib Mohammad Akbar Khan broke down after the trio became martyrs. He was suspended and the title of Khan Sahib was withdrawn by the British. While Khan lost a lot due to his sympathies, a few companions turned approvers and were lavishly rewarded by the British. Their treachery is unpardonable and it is very difficult to dissect their psyche, so let me begin by naming a few .
Hans Raj Vohra -He was a member of the HSRA and he later turned approver in the Lahore conspiracy case. Vohra later became a journalist and worked for The Statesman in Delhi and The Times of India and Deccan Chronicle in Washington, claimed that he turned approver once he learnt that Sukhdev, his guru, had let him down by “divulging every secret of the party” to the police. His defense is laughable . It is worth observing that Sukhdev was hanged and Vohra was rewarded, so anybody can guess who sang like a canary.
Vohra refused to take monetary benefits. But he was sponsored by the Punjab government and got to study in the prestigious London School of Economics. After a masters in political science, Vohra got a degree in journalism from London University and was the correspondent of the Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore till 1948. Before he died in Washington on September 13, 1985, he wrote a letter to Mathuradas Thapar, brother of Sukhdev, who was hanged along with Bhagat Singh, to explain why he turned an approver. He offers lame excuses and hollow justifications for his deeds.
Jai Gopal – He was a companion of Bhagat Singh. He joined Bhagat Singh in avenging Lala Lajpat Rai’s death. His job was to identify Scott but on that day Scott was on leave and Jai Gopal, who was to have given the green signal to Bhagat Singh and Rajguru to open fire, mistook Saunders to be Scott. He went turned approver in the case that finally sent Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev to the gallows on March 23, 1931.Jai Gopal while tendering his evidence was twisting his moustache and trying to provoke the accused in the other box. An angry Sukhdev wanted to spend some time alone with Jai Gopal after the trial, so that he could strangle him to death.
Jai Gopal got an award of Rs 20,000 from the British
Phonindra Nath Ghosh- the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army was led in Bihar by Phonindra Ghose. He was not a small fry, On the formation of the HSRA, Phanindra Ghose and Man Mohan Banerjee had been invited to represent Bihar, and Ghose was made one of the seven members of its Central Committee . Both the men ended up being police informers and got 50 acres of land each in Champaran district of Bihar (their home district) .
The plan to kill him was made by his fellow revolutionaries at the Gandhi Ashram at Hazipur, and Baikunth Sukul was selected as the avenger. Baikunth, along with Chandrama Singh, made a fatal attack on Phanindra Nath and his friend Ganesh Prasad Gupta on November 9, 1932, inside the Mina Bazar at Betia in the presence of the constable deputed to guard Ghose after he had turned approver. Ghose did not name anyone in his dying declaration and died on November 17, 1932, and his friend three days later . Baikunth was later caught and executed by the British.
Nitu's thoughts 