Madan Lal Pahwa - Trial of Pahwa

Trial of Pahwa

On interrogation, Madan Lal admitted that he was part of a seven member's gang who wanted to kill Gandhi. The plan was that he would explode the bomb as close to the podium as possible. Digambar Badge or Shankar Kistaiya would shoot Gandhi in the ensuing panic and stampede and use the chaotic situation to effect their escape. Vishnu Karkare was to compound the chaos by hurling hand grenades. However at the last minute Digambar Badge decided not to act and also instructed his servant, Shankar Kistaiya to do likewise. The late start of the meeting, and Choturam's cross questioning were the reason for this decision.

"...We walked night and day. There were men and women of all ages and all conditions. Many could not stand the strain. They-mostly women and children-were left on the road. I reached a place called Fazilka, in Indian territory, and discovered that another refugee column in which my father and other relatives had set out had fared much worse. They had been attacked by Muslim mobs on their way: Only 40 or 50 had survived out of 400 or 500 and even these were in hospitals. My aunt had been killed, more than a hundred girls were abducted, and my father rescued from a heap of the dead." "...While in Fazilka, we saw other refugee columns coming in; one of them he says was 'forty miles long', and in another marched " five hundred women who had been stripped naked.......I saw women with their breasts, noses, ears and cheeks cut........one of them told me how her child was roasted and she was asked to partake of the same.....another was ravished in the presence of her husband who was kept tied to a tree."

— Stated under oath by Madan Lal Pahwa during the Gandhi Murder Trial.

Later Madan Lal Pahwa took the police to the Marina Hotel where Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were staying and also to Sharief Hotel where all the others were staying. Everyone had left by that time and the police were only able to recover some letters and clothes which had the initials "NVG" on them. By this time they had evidence that the members of that team were from Maharashtra. However, they had not been able to identify Nathuram Godse

Pahwa was identified by one Mrs. Sulochana Devi during the Gandhi murder trial, who had come to Birla Bhavan in search of her three year's old son who used to play in the servant quarters. She was the fifteenth witness in the trial.

Madan Lal was sentenced to life imprisonment for his involvement in the assassination of Gandhi. After serving the sentence Pahwa lived in Dadar, Mumbai until his death.