search of the dead assailant’s
residence brought out more
letters which threw
more
light
on
the
conspiracy. Those
mentioned
one
Arumugham Pillai
who had
been
in
touch
with
Vanchi. He
was
traced
and
the
British
Indian
Police
got
out
of
this
weak- kneed man
loads
of
information. Later
he
was
taken
as
approver. Another
man
Somasundaram
was also traced
and
he
too
cracked
at
the
seams
and
let
out
a
good
heap
of
sawdust
inside. He
too
turned
approver.
The cops
did
not
leave
a
single
stone
unturned. Searches
were
made
all
over
South
India
and
the
root
of
it
all
pointed
to
Punditry,
a
port
town
on
the
Bay
of
Bengal,
then
part
of
French
territory
beyond
the
pale
of
British
India. As
the
Public
Prosecutor of
Madras High Court, C.F.
Napier
commented
later
during
the
trial,
''
the
extraordinary
way
in
which
the
town
of
Pondicherry
seems
to
permeate
this
case", this historic
town
of
Dupleix and Anandarangam
Pillai played a significant
role
in
the
fight
for
Indian Freedom.
Pondicherry
being
alien
French territory proved
a
haven
for
Indian
revolutionaries
hounded
and
hunted
by
the
British
Indian
Police.
The
friendly
quiet
beautiful
small town
gave
political
asylum
to
great
freedom
fighters
like
Aurobindo
Ghosh,
V.V.
S. Iyer, a lawyer
turned
rebel who trained men in armed
combat
and
guerrilla
warfare, and Mahakavi
Subramania Bharathiar, the
great
rebel
poet
of
India
whose
works
in
Tamil
were
banned
by
the
British
Indian
Government. Many
publications
in
English
and
Tamil
were
produced
here
and
circulated
secretly
in
British
Indian
territory
in spite of
the
ban
on
them. Indeed
Pondicherry
was
a
veritable
factory
of
patriotic
fervor.
Soon the
police
rounded
up
as
many
as
fourteen
men who were
charged
with
various
offences
under
the
Indian
Penal
Code
like
murder,
waging
war
against
the
King-Emperor
of
India,
and criminal
conspiracy. The
accused
were
the
following...)
Neelakanta, alias
Brahmachari,
a
Brahmin
youth
of
twenty one,
a
journalist,
fiery
patriot
and
person
of
considerable
persuasive
skills
and
charm, and the
leader of a
conspiracy
to
murder
Ashe,
according
to
the
police)...2)
Sankarakrishna
Iyer,
a
young
farmer
...
3)
Madathukadai
Chidambaram Pillai (no
relation
of
VOC),
a
green-grocer
...
4)
Muthukumarasami
Pillai,
a
pot vendor
in
his
forties…5) Subbaiah Pillai, a
lawyer’s clerk...
6)
Jagannatha
Ayyangar,
a
young cook...
7)
Harihara
Iyer,
a
young
merchant...
8)
Bapu
Pillai,
a
farmer... .
9) V.
Desikachari,
a merchant...
10)
Vembu Iyer,
a
cook…
11)
Savadi
Arunachalam,
Pillai, a farmer...
12)
Alagappa Pillai,
a
teen-aged farmer...
13)
‘Vande
Matharam’
Subramania
Iyer,
a
schoolmaster,
and
14)
Pichumani Iyer,
a cook.
Altogether a
motley
crowd
of
men
mostly
in
their
twenties
of
different
professions and castes
but
all
of
them
had
something in common. They
were
all
patriots
burning
with
desire and thirst
for
freedom,
their
muscles
and
all
set to
drive
out
the
Imperialistic
British
from
India.
In the
ordinary
course
this
case
would
have
been
tried
by
the
District
and
Sessions
Judge
at
Tinnevelly. But
in
view
of
its
political
importance
and
the
murder
victim
being
a
Britisher
and
an ICS Officer at that,
the
case
was
sent
up
to
the
High
Court
at
Madras. Here
a Full Bench of three judges
consisting of Sir Arnold White, then the Chief Justice of Madras,
tried it, as a special case along with Justice
Ayling,
and
Mr.
Justice
C.
Sankaran
Nair
(later
Sir
C.
Sankaran Nair).
The
case
not
surprisingly
attracted
attention
all
over
India
and
even
beyond
achieving
the
status
of
a
‘cause
celebre’.
C.
F. Napier,
Public
Prosecutor
assisted
by
T.
Richmond
and
A.
Sundara
Sastrigal
appeared
for
the
Crown,
while
a
glittering
array
of
eminent
Madras
lawyers
defended
the
accused. Neelakanta
was
the
defended
by
a
British
Barrister,
J.C. Adam.
Another Barrister,
a
brilliant
and
mercurial
Indian,
a
great
patriot and future
leader
who
gave
away
his wealth and
all
for
his
native
land,
Tanguturi
Prakasam
appeared
for
Sankarakrishna and
three
other
accused.
(In later
years T. Prakasam
known
as
'
Andhra Kesari'-
the Lion of Andhra- occupied
several
high
positions
in
South
India
as
Chief
Minister
of
Madras,
and
Andhra
Pradesh,
Central
minister
at
Delhi
and
others.
He
began as pleader
in Rajamundry
now
in
Andhra
Pradesh
where
he
quickly
scaled
to
the
top. Realizing
that
the
District
Headquarters
town
was
too small
an
arena
for a person
of
his
brilliance
and
talents
he
went
to
England
and
qualified him
as
Barrister. Back
home
he
set
up
practice
at
Madras
where
he
soon
made
a
mark
and
moved
to
the
forefront
of
the
Bar.
Sadly
in
recent
years
this
great
patriot
and
warm
human soul
has
been
sidelined.)
M.
D.
Devadoss
(later
Mr.
Justice
Devadoss),
J.
L.
Rozario, B.
Narasimha
Rao,
T.
M.
Krishnaswami
Iyer
(a
future
leader
of
the
Madras
bar
and
later, sometime
Chief
Justice
of
the
Travancore High Court.
He
was
also a great
savant
of
Hindu
religious
lore.),
L. A.
Govindaraghava
Iyer,
S.
T.
Srinivasagopalachari, (a
high-ranking
Freemason,
an
eminent epigraphist and
numismatist with a
fabulous
collection
of
ancient
coins
of
solid
gold!)
and
V.
Ryru
Nambiar
held
the
brief for
the
other
accused.
(To be continued)
