Men who killed Gandhi

Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte together decided that Mahatma Gandhi had to be killed. As to which of them first thought of the plot, however, remains a mystery, says a book to be released on Wednesday on the 60th anniversary of the assassination of the Father of the Nation.
The resolution to kill the Mahatma was made by the two as they read on the teleprinter the news on Gandhi's decision to go on a fast to force transfer of Rs 55 crore to Pakistan.
In Pune, the two men, sitting in their non-descript newspaper office read the news and suddenly make their decision – Gandhi had to be killed, says the revised edition of The Men Who Killed Gandhi by Manohar Malgaonkar.
The 94-year-old author, who is an ex-serviceman and a civil servant, first published The Men Who Killed Gandhi in 1978. The new edition of the book carries, according to the publisher, hitherto unpublished photographs and documents including the Bombay-Delhi air tickets and bills of the hotel used by the two in Delhi while on their mission.
“Of the six men who were finally adjudged to have been implicated in the murder conspiracy, two were hanged. The other four – the approver Badge and the three who got life sentences, Karkare, Gopal and Madanlal talked to me freely and at length,” says the author in his note to the first edition of the book. "All the four gave me much information that they had never revealed before,” he claims.
The book has some rare photographs including one of Jinnah and Mahatma Gandhi having a heated argument and Godse and Apte in Pune during the trial. Malgaonkar describes Godse as a voracious reader, his interests being mythology, scriptures and Marathi history.

After he met VD Savarkar, Godse was never the same having been transformed into a fiery champion of all the causes that Savarkar stood for, political, social, religious, freedom from British rule, abolition of the caste system and re-conversion of Hindus who
had been enticed into Islam or Christianity.
At 31, Godse was a quiet man of simple and almost austere tastes. Pledged to celibacy, he shied away from the company of women. His secret pride was his ability to sway crowds with his speeches.
In contrast, Apte was quick witted, lively and well educated. He smoked and drank, wore expensive clothes and was fond of all the good things in life.
"The two men who were so different should become the closest friends seems almost unnatural, but people who knew them will assert that neither was a homosexual and that the friendship was due entirely to their total identity of views on the Sanghatan movement", the author says.
Madanlal Pahwa, another accused was a refugee from Pakistan who had experienced the atrocities first hand. He was accused of throwing a bomb at Gandhi's prayer meeting on January 20. Pahwa came in touch with Godse and Apte through Vishnu Karkare who took him from am refugee camp in Bombay to Ahmednagar and helped him earn a living, the book says.
Digambar Badge, one of the four accused was not the kind of a person who inspired confidence. He was owner of 'Shastr Bhandar', a storehouse of weapons. An inveterate name-dropper and a big talker, Badge came in contact with Godse and Apte through one Dixitji Maharaj, the author says.
After the two made up their mind to kill Gandhi, Godse and Apte set a target date – January 20. To accomplish their task the team set out to kill or maim scores of men and women, who, they knew, would be crowding around Gandhi.
"As it crystallised in the MarinaHotel in Delhi’s Cannought Circus on the afternoon of January 20, it was a horrifying mixture that was part farce,” the book says.
The plans, however, changed and on January 30, when a man wearing a grey shirt walked in through the service gate of Birla House and no one checked him.
Godse later told his brother Gopal that he was put off by the two girls walking in front of Gandhi. As Gandhi raised his hand to greet the crowd, Godse slid forward the safety catch on the Beretta while it was still in his pocket and then stepped up to him, the author says.