By Vivek Shukla----New Delhi, Jan. 30: After an extended chill, the capital was seeing brilliant sunshine on 30 January,1948 and it was a normal day for Sardar Jaswant Singh, DSP, Parliament Street police station.
He was patrolling the area and in that process he was also visiting Tughlaq Road police station. This police station came under the purview of Parliament police station. It was around four in the afternoon and he was sitting with Dasondha Singh, SHO, Tughlaq Road, on the front side of the police station. Both were enjoying their tea outside the room of Dasondha Singh. Except for routine activities in police station, no case was reported till that historic case, which shocked the world.
It is said that while sipping their tea, Jaswant Singh called the first information report writer of the police station, Dalu Ram, ASI, at around 4-30 p.m. Dalu Ram told him that everything is fine in the area and no case had been reported so far. Relieved, Sardar Jaswant Singh told Dasondha Singh that perhaps he won't come tomorrow.
Those were the days when Delhi was a quiet and peaceful city. At around 5-45 p.m. when both Jaswant Singh and Dasondha Singh were about to split, they saw a young man coming to their side. Even though it was cold the man was sweating profusely. He announced that Gandhiji had been assassinated at Birla house ( then 5 Albuquerque Road, later known as 5,Tees January Marg).
Stunned and shocked, both DSP and SHO without wasting any time went straight to the Birla House on their motorcycles. Some other staffers of Tughlaq Road police station also left for the same destination. They reached the Birla House within a few minutes. J.S. Joon, who later remained as a SHO of the same police station, said during those days there wasn't any phone in police stations. Jaswant Singh’s son Gurdayal singh, who lives in Vivek Vihar, told this writer that Nand Lal Mehta had to rush to the police station to inform about the incident. Mehta was the resident of M-96, Connaught Circus. He was a staunch Congressman, quite close to Gandhiji and Sardar Patel. According to Avani Parekh, who was a neighbour, Mehta took part in the freedom struggle and went to prison. He moved to Ahmedabad in 1980 and died there.
Though Bapu's assassination took place at 5-17 p.m. the FIR was written by Dalu Ram at 9.45 p.m. Mehta narrated the whole incident for FIR purpose to Dasondha Singh and Jaswant Singh, DSP of the area. D.V. Sanjeevi, Inspector General, Delhi Police, and his deputy, D.W. Mehta, also read the FIR after it was filed. Mehta and Sanjeevi, it is said, grilled Bapu's assailant, Nathu Ram Godse, before he was sent to the prison of the Tughlaq Road police station.
Dalu Ram was a resident of Shahpur village in South Delhi and died in 1969 and Dasondha Singh migrated to Canada in the mid-`70s. Police also recorded the eyewitness accounts of Sardar Gurbachan Singh, a resident of Timarpur. Both Nand Lal Mehta and Singh came to Birla House to attend the daily prayers.
Even after more than six decades of Gandhiji's murder, not only foreigners and students but also policemen visit this police station -- built in 1941 with the architecture of Raj days -- and also to take a look at the FIR no. 68.
Vivek Shukla,46,is a veteran journalist and writer, currently working for a prestigious publication house as an Editor. A Post Graduate in Political Science from venerable Hindu College, Delhi University, he has been writing on contemporary issues in major national and international newspapers and news portals. While subjects like South Asia, Indian Diaspora, Muslims, Caste, Delhi and Corporate world are very close to his heart and soul, he hardly miss any chance to read and write on other interesting subjects too. In his college days, Vivek Shukla was one of the founders of Socialist forum of DU. A die-hard Gandhian, he has been actively involved with many social and educational institutions in New Delhi since long. He can be contacted at vivek28shukla@gmail.com
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