#Gun used to kill gandhi free#

But Manuben’s account in her handwritten diary, which I have annexed in the petition, very clearly says she found one bullet in Gandhi’s shawl when he was being given the last bath. So there was no scope for a bullet to be found anywhere else. One remained in the body and was found in the ashes. “Police say they found two bullets at the spot. Phadnis has further corroborated his theory of a fourth bullet with evidence of a hand written account of Manuben Gandhi (grand niece of Mahatma Gandhi) as noted in her personal diary.

(Source: “The men who killed Gandhi” by Manohar Malgonkar) The New York Times (January 31, 1948) Accounts of Gandhi’s murder recorded by the police suggest that three shots were fired. However, on investigating further, no other report could be recovered that point to the possibility of Godse’s suicide attempt. “The man, who gave his name as Nathuram, fired a fourth shot, apparently in an effort to kill himself, but a Royal Indian Air Force sergeant standing alongside jolted his arm and wrenched the pistol away,” says the report. It is to be noted that while the Times of India did report that “the Father of the Nation was shot four times,” they immediately followed it by saying “three bullets struck the Mahatma.” However, there is one report in the Guardian, published on January 31, 1948, that speaks of a fourth shot, but claims that it was an attempt by Godse to kill himself after the assassination. Other newspapers, namely the New York Times, the Daily Telegraph, the Washington Post and the Hindustan Times reported three shots fired at Gandhi. Each of the accounts point to witnesses being aware of three shots fired by Godse at point blank range and do not mention the occurrence of a fourth shot at all. While the media clippings referred to by Phadnis do corroborate his claim, the police records of the case as reproduced in Manohar Malgonkar’s book, “The men who killed Gandhi”, are not in line with the claim. Seventy years later, this should not be a controversy at all,” says Phadnis. “There are multiple records of people saying four bullets were fired. (Source: “The men who killed Gandhi” by Manohar Malgonkar) (Source: ” The men who killed Gandhi” by Manohar Malgonkar) Times of India’s reportage of Gandhi’s murder. (Source: Copy in possession of petitioner Pankaj Phadnis) Loksatta’s reportage of Gandhi’s murder. While the political motivation behind Phadnis’ petition can hardly be ignored, there are some interesting questions that his fourth bullet theory raises about the investigation of Gandhi’s assassination.īuy at just Rs 108 per month now Dawn’s reportage of Gandhi’s assassination (Source: Copy in possession of petitioner Pankaj Phadnis) Reuters’ reportage of Gandhi’s assassination.

The idea is to take the burden of the guilt, off the communalists of this country,” says historian Aditya Mukherjee. “These are political statements to confuse the issue, to denigrate people and to defend those who are responsible.

#Gun used to kill gandhi free#

Phadnis’ petition has come under heavy criticism, particularly from historians and intellectuals, who consider it to be an attempt to free the political descendants of Gandhi’s murderers from the burden of guilt.

His petition is based on reportage and personal accounts pointing to the possibility of a fourth bullet being fired at Gandhi, but not from Godse’s pistol, suggesting that there could have been a second assassin. Petitioner Pankaj Phadnis, an independent researcher and co-founder of Abhinav Bharat (an organisation inspired by the ideologies of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar), wants to know whether anybody other than the accused had prior knowledge of the conspiracy to murder Gandhi.