Ooty robbery case: Struggles of Bachchu Lal and Inder Singh in Andaman cellular jail

The Ooty robbery case created panic in British rule and injected new energy in the Indian independence movement in the 1930s. The act was daring as Hazara Singh and three associates conducted a robbery at Travancore National Bank at Ooty (Tamil Nadu) in broad daylight to manage funds for buying arms and ammunition to support the freedom movement. Bachchu Lal from Nainital played a key role in the Ooty robbery case. Another revolutionary leader Inder Singh Garhwali from Tehri, who escaped from jail with Hazara Singh, too remains unsung in Uttarakhand. Both these freedom fighters remain unidentified and forgotten. Not many know about their heroism in Uttarakhand. They were described as Punjab terrorists in many police documents, even this created confusion about the native place of the freedom fighters. Both Bachchu Lal and Inder Singh served life imprisonment and were deported to Andaman cellular jail. They were possibly the only two freedom fighters from Uttarakhand to serve life imprisonment in Andaman cellular jail. Tragic case of Bachchu Lal Bachchu Lal/Ram, son of Lachai, from Nainital was 27 when he joined Hazara Singh and others in the Travancore National Bank robbery at Ootacamund. Posing as policemen and wearing Khaki dress, four youths entered the bank on 26 April 1933. The bank staff had just begun the after lunch work and there was no customer inside. Taking advantage of the situation the youths pointed a gun at the cashier and disappeared with the cash box containing Rs 3211. The youths had hired a car (number 1015) and immediately headed for the railway station. Among the four, Kushi Ram and Niyanand were arrested a few hours after the robbery. But Hazara and Bachchu managed to escape with most of the cash. Bachchu was arrested at Linghi Chetty Street in Chennai on 4 May 1933. The cops recorded the identification of Bachchu with a tattoo of Hanuman on the right hand and Ram, Ram written on the left hand on the arrest document. Hazara Singh, Bachchu Lal, Nityanand Vats and Govind Ram Behl were arrested for the famous Ooty bank raid case. Only Rs 350 was recovered from the youths. The four arrested refused to eat food separately in the jail and launched a hunger strike. This forced the Superintendent of Police to arrange for their demand of eating food together and also provide them heavy woolen blankets. At the Andaman Cellular Jail, the inhuman condition of the prison life made Bachchu mentally unstable. He was sent to Pune Mental Asylum in 1937. No information or document is available on Bachchu Lal after he reached Pune. Even after independence efforts were made by the Uttar Pradesh government to track information, but it failed. When arrested the address of Bachchu was mentioned in Amritsar (Punjab). One English language newspaper reporting the trial of Ooty bank robbery case mentions Bachhue as Maratha, Hindu, from Nainital. According to the Cellular Jail Museum (Port Blair) records, information about 500 prisoners is available with them. The names of the freedom fighters who served jail terms at Andaman are inscribed in stone on the campus. The name of Bachchu Lal and 11 others are mentioned as freedom fighters from United Province incarnated during 1922-31. Hazara Singh is mentioned as a native of Punjab. Rajpal Singh Negi, Head of the Department (History) at Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, says, “I recently did a project in which we collected details about 500 freedom fighters from Uttarakhand. The compiled information about the revolutionary leaders is available on Armit Mahotsav portal. We failed to find the name of any freedom fighter from Garhwal and Kumaon who served life imprisonment in Andaman cellular jail.” A dedicated person committed to the freedom movement, Bachchu Lal possibly died at Poona. Unsung Inder Singh Garhwali Known by many names - Prem Prakash alas Rudra Singh alas Devanab - Inder Singh Garhwali was a dynamic person. He came into limelight in the Madras city bomb case. The news of two youths connected with the Ooty bank robbery case created unrest among Shambhunath, Roshanlal and Inder Singh. They decided to teach the British a lesson and do something big. They made a bomb and when they were testing it exploded. They were booked under the arms and explosive substance act. Inder Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment and before deporting to Andaman he was kept at Bellary central jail in Karnataka. Inder Singh met Hazara Singh in the jail and they developed friendship. The one month long friendship bore fruits when the duo managed to escape from jail on 4 October 1933, by scaling the wall. The news of the jail break rattled British rule. Both were arrested within 24 hours but the act shattered the confidence of the foreign rulers. In the Andaman Cellular Jail records, Inder Singh Garhwali is recorded as prisoner number 171. His father’s name is mentioned as Madho Singh and native place as Tehri. The name of the village, Largu, creates confusion as there is no village with such name in Tehri and Uttarkashi. Only Lagrasu village in Dhanaulti Tehsil of Tehri resembles the name mentioned in jail documents and published records. Lagrasu village Pradhan, Narendra Rawat says, “Never heard about any freedom fighter from our village.” The names of Bachchu Lal and Inder Singh Garhwali are written in golden words in the history of the Indian independence movement. These heroes deserve reorganisation in their home state Uttarakhand. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.