Bhavabhushan Mitra - New Plans

New Plans

Released from jail on 2 December 1914, on 10 January 1915, Bhababhushan turned up at Deoghar and went straight to Mani Basu. Also he “had immediately taken up with old confederates and members of the Alipore gang, notably Bijoy Chakravarti, Pramatha Bhattacharji, Amaresh Kanjilal in Jessore, from which place he suddenly disappeared on 8 January. While there he also, as he admitted later, met the notorious Jatindra Nath Mukherji. In Deoghar he gave out his intention of leading an ascetic’s life, but it was soon obvious that he was there for no good purpose, and he was very carefully watched.”

From 2 March 1916, according to Sealy’s Report, Bhababhushan assumed the name of Satyananda Puri, left Sarada Datta and made a show of renouncing the world. He inserted an advertisement in the Amrita Bazar Patrika regarding a nursing home he intended setting up. Later on he wanted to build himself an ashram. The police took their opportunity and through secret agents got him installed in a house, where they watched him and, apparently, gained his confidence. The place was known as the Girish Ashram. Bhababhushan gave out that money was needed by the revolutionaries to defray the expenses of active workers, to maintain the families of those killed or imprisoned and to collect arms and ammunition for the sending of emissaries to the Straits and the Far East where there were German Consuls.

For the recruiting and training of boys in political work and that this last-named branch was the part that was being organised in Deoghar, one Santi Bakshi, a teacher in the H.E. School being the chief local recruiter. The three brothers, Jogi, Hara and Jyoti Prasad Chaudhuri from Ranaghat, associates of Santi Bakshi and Barin, were also constantly in Bhababhushan’s company, as well as Alokenath Chakravarti, a cousin of Phanindra Chakravarti. Among Bhababhushan’s other immediate associates were two brothers, Gangadhar and Shashadhar Chatterji; boasting that “he would turn out a second Jatin Mukherjee,” Bhababhushan had sent Gangadhar to Benares.

Another youth found at the ashram was Kiran Chandra Chatterji, an acquaintance of Hemangini Devi and the monk Thakurdas Babaji : according to Sealy, “the Sadhu was the religious preceptor of these dangerous persons” such as Dr Jnanendra Nath Mitra of Patna, Kedarnath Banerjee, a pleader from Kolkata, practising in Bankipore and the latter’s wife, Hemangini who, believed Sealy, was “used by Dr Mitra in furtherance of his plans in much the same way as the notorious Sarala Devi in Bengal.” Satish Chandra Sarkar of Natore, an associate of Jatindranath Mukherjee and Phani Mitra of Kolkata (the future printer of the seditious Jugantar) were on the staff of the Motherland edited by Dr Mitra.

During 1906-1907, they had received the visit of Upendranath Banerjee, Bibhutibhushan Sarkar, Ullaskar Datta and Prafulla Chaki, four important associates of Barin, and they had been to see Thakurdas at Dhaniapahari. Since Kedarnath’s death in 1914, Hemangini lived in Deoghar.

Sealy considered the sequel to Bhababhushan’s stay in Deoghar to be interesting : first of all, it afforded light on the workings of the revolutionaries; it showed, moreover, how the various branches of the conspiracy were interconnected and the extraordinary manner in which all known workers and sympathisers were marked down and made use of when opportunity offered. The organisations “are so closely connected and the ramifications so wide, it is often impossible to grasp the issues; the deeper one goes into their plotting the more interesting do the connections become.” Ananta Haldar, an active member of the party, had lived in Deoghar in 1911-1912. In June 1916, he visited Deoghar and, directed by Sarada Datta, went to Satyananda’s ashram. Immediately after the man left, when the police visited Bhababhushan, they found the doors bolted from inside and noticed smell of burning paper.

After Ananta’s arrest, a search made of the latter’s belongings led to important discoveries : whereabouts of the absconding associates of Jatindranath Mukherjee such as Atulkrishna Ghose and Nolinikanta Kar, “two dangerous and important absconders,” Ashutosh Ray and Anukul Mukherjee of Rodda’s Theft case, Gopendra Ray, Ashutosh Lahiri; notes on Abinash Chandra Chakravarti, the ex-munsiff of Pabna and Monghyr, Jyotish Pal of the Balasore case, “32 Haritakibagan, 10 Abhoy Haldar’s Lane, the headquarters of the Sibpur gang... Enquiries in Bengal showed that the youth was known as a member of the gang and was in close touch with Makhan Ghose, Atul Ghose, Nolini Kanta Kar, Debendra Chaudhuri of the Jajpur dakaiti case and Jatin Mukherjee, and that he had been lost sight of.”

Ananta and his brother Jatin Haldar had been in close touch with Jatindranath Mukherjee. After Ananta’s visit, Bhababhushan warned Mani Basu through Santi Bakshi that there would be a search. Ananta admitted his connection with Gopen Ray, Nolini Kar, Atul Ghose and others, and had been sent by Atul to Bhababhushan, “who was one of the trusted men of the party.” An influential leader of youths in Deoghar, Santi Bakshi had known Sri Aurobindo’s family very well, especially the latter’s sister Sarojini Ghose, maternal uncle Mani Basu, uncle Krishnakumar Mitra, his daughter Kumudini Mitra and her fiancé Sachindraprasad Basu, before joining Bhababhushan and his party, since 1908. Santi had been to the Damodar Flood relief in 1913. Daily he visited Subodh Mullick, who was Sri Aurobindo’s intimate friend.

In May 1916, Santi with his nephew Jyotiprasad Chaudhuri went for an “alleged” holiday trip and stayed finally for three weeks at Simla. Two letters from Nikhileswar Ray Mullick, a key figure of the Jugantar, dated Simla 3 and 14 June, addressed to Jitendranath Basu, nephew of Atul Ghose, “one of the most dangerous members of the gang”, according to Sealy, were found during a house search at 11 Mahendra Gossain Lane (a meeting place of Atul’s men), in which references to the need of concealment were made and to Santi’s presence there. Santi Bakshi was arrested.

Sealy mentioned: “Looking at them in all their complicated details, these connections seem to point without doubt to a well organised attempt at Deoghar to further the objects of the conspiracy(…) Bhava Bhusan must undoubtedly have been sent to Deoghar with some definite orders by one of the leaders.(…)” Persuaded that Patna and Deoghar were connected with the Alipore case and subsequently with the gun-running conspiracy, Sealy mentioned: “Jatin Mukherjee visited the place also and left his family there on one occasion.” Deoghar was a convenient refuge for suspects tracked down at Bhagalpur, Bankipur, Muzzafarpur, Purnea and elsewhere.

In August 1916, Bhavabhushan was interned under the Defence of India Act. He was released on personal recognisance in January 1920.