Kapur Commission

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The release of the conspirators in the Gandhi murder case in 1964 and the resultant celebrations in Pune and Ketkar's remarks that he was aware of Nathuram Godse's desire to kill Gandhi, led to a public outrage and resulted in the forming of the Pathak commission. When Pathak became central minister and then governor of Mysore state, the Kapur commission was set up in 1966 as the commission of inquiry into the conspiracy to murder Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. It was a one-man commission formed of Justice Jivanlal Kapur of the Supreme Court. It took three years to complete its work. It strongly indicted those responsible for Gandhi's security with negligence. It was provided with evidence not produced in the court; especially the testimony of two of Savarkar's close aides - Appa Ramachandra Kasar, his bodyguard, andGajanan Vishnu Damle, his secretary. It exonerated Savarkar for want of corroborative evidence to support the approver's testimony, however with the remark that the facts on the whole demolished any other theroy but the conspiracy of Savarkar and his group in the murder of Gandhi.

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[edit]Events leading to its formation

On November 12, 1964, a religious programme was organised in Pune, to celebrate the release of the Gopal Godse, Madanlal Pahwa, Vishnu Karkare from jail after the expiry of their sentences. Dr. G. V. Ketkar, grandson of Bal Gangadhar Tilak^[1], former editor of Kesari and then editor of Tarun Bharat, who presided over the function, revealed six months before the actual event, that Nathuram Godse disclosed his ideas to kill Gandhi and was opposed by Ketkar. Ketkar said that he passed the information to Balukaka Kanitkar who conveyed it to the then Chief Minister of Bombay State, B. G. Kher. The Indian Express in its issue of November 14, 1964, commented adversely on Ketkar's conduct that Ketkar's fore-knowledge of the assassination of Gandhi added to the mystery of the circumstances preceding to the assassination. Ketkar was arrested. A public furore ensued both outside and inside the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and both houses of the Indian parliament. There was a suggestion that there had been a deliberate dereliction of duty on the part of people in high authority, who failed to act responsibly even though they had information that could have prevented Gandhi's shooting. Under pressure of 29 members of parliament and public opinion, the then-Union home minister, Gulzarilal Nanda, appointed Gopal Swarup Pathak, M. P. and a senior advocate of theSupreme Court of India, in charge of inquiry of conspiracy to murder Gandhi. Since both Kanitkar and Kher were deceased, the central government intended on conducting a thorough inquiry with the help of old records in consultation with the government of Maharashtra, Pathak was given three months to conduct his inquiry. But as Pathak was appointed a central minister and then governor of Mysore state, the commission of inquiry was reconstituted and Jevanlal Kapur a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India was appointed to conduct the inquiry.^[2]

[edit]Working

Justice Jivanlal Kapur was appointed as a one-man Commission to conduct inquiry into the conspiracy to murder Gandhi on November 21, 1966 and was completed on September 30, 1969. It examined 101 witnesses, 407 documents were produced, by witnesses, and the governments of India and Maharashtra. It had 162 sittings and traveled to Mumbai, Delhi, Nagpur, Dharwad, Pune, Baroda and Chandigarh. Counsels for governments of Maharashtra and India were R. S. Kotwal and B. B. Lal respectively, they argued their cases for 37 and 13 days respectively. G. V. Ketkar was the first witness to be examined. J. D. Nagarwala and Morarji Desai were the key witnesses who were examined for 15 and 7 days respectively. J. D. Nagarwala was the Deputy Commissioner of Police who was appointed as investigating officer on the murder case and Morarji Desai the Chief Minister of the then Bombay State.^[2]

[edit]Findings

The commission pointed out various lapses and flaws on part of the Inspector General of Police of Delhi, Sanjivi. The commission remarked sumarising the Delhi investigation,

The anxiety of the officialdom in New Delhi, to take any intelligent interest in the investigation in the bomb case is not indicated by any tangible evidence^[2]

on the investigation in Mumbai the commission observed

After the murder the police suddenly woke up into diligent activity throughout India, of which there was no evidence before the tragedy^[2]

The Kapur Commission was provided with evidence not produced in the court; especially the testimony of two of Savarkar's close aides - Appa Ramachandra Kasar, his bodyguard, and Gajanan Vishnu Damle, his secretary,^[3] it exonerated Savarkar for want of corroborative evidence in support of the approver's confession, however it remarked that the facts taken together were

destructive of any theory other than the conspiracy to murder by Savarkar and his group(which included Godse).^[4]

[edit]References

^ "Interview: K. Ketkar". University of Cambridge, Centre of South Asian Studies. Retrieved 2009,August 29.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Jain, Jagdishchandra (1987). Gandhi the forgotten Mahatma. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. ISBN 81-7099-037-8.
^ Noorani, A. G. (2003, March 15 - 28). "Savarkar and Gandhi" (in English). The Hindu. Retrieved 2009, August 29.
^ Raina, Badri (2004-08-29). "RSS and the Gandhi murder." (in English). People's democracy. (Communist Party of India (Marxist)). Retrieved 2009-10-01.