British bounty lure in Kakori Action was more than ‘loot' amount itself

Time of India

a day ago

Lucknow: The Kakori Action in 1925 was about looting about Rs 4,601 from the 8 Down train. But the worth of this incident was way more. The then administration announced a bounty of Rs 5,000 to anyone who helped nab the doers.
An advertisement was published by the then authorities in the local papers. One such ad in the local daily called Hamdam dated Aug 27, 1925, lured people to give information on the executors and earn Rs 5,000.
"The advertisement stated that those giving information about them would have the chance to win a prize money of Rs 5,000. It also shared details of the currency notes which were looted by the revolutionaries and promised to give adequate reward for those giving any information on the currency notes," said Shah Alam, a collector of historical documents.
The advertisement was also included in contemporary novels based on the incident. An Urdu novel titled 'Kakori Dakaiti' by Maulana Hasrat Maulvi Fazil Lakhnawi in 1926 is a case in point. A Hindi translation of the book has been brought out by the Kanpur Itihaas Samiti recently.
"It is well known that there was excessive govt control on the press and media under British rule. Maybe that is why writers used the garb of fiction to present facts.
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When we compared the book with official documents, we could sense that facts of the incident were weaved in a fictional plot," said samiti general secretary Anup Shukla.
Mentioning that he along with Prakhar Srivastava undertook the translation work, Shukla said: "Those who can read the original must do so as often translations cannot to full justice to the primary thought." He also found several elements interesting.
"The author introduced the revolutionaries as 'aman pasand' (peace-loving). He was probably a teacher who took to writing down the book. This compels me to believe that the incident must have left a deep impression on people's minds," he said.
Alam said the advertisement speaks of the desperation. "The fact that the bounty for giving any information on the revolutionaries was more than the total amount looted indicates that the British administration had taken the blow as a challenge," he said.
Kakori loot amount values Rs 26.2 lakh today
Assessments indicate that the value of Rs 4,601 (USD 1,667.03 in 1925) taken away by the revolutionaries on Aug 9, 1925, has grown manyfold in the past 100 years. When converted using the dollar exchange rate method and adjusted for US inflation to 2025, the amount comes to around Rs 26 lakh. Experts believe that the amount was big enough to digress a weak-willed soul from the nationalist path and take them on the road to betrayal.
Eventually currency notes proved to be a crucial link that put British investigating officer RA Horton on a money trail which ended with the first arrest two months later.
Newspapers called Kakori Action 'serious' and 'sensational'
While local newspapers reported the Kakori Train action on Aug 10, news on the incident was taken in English papers one or two days later. The unmissable dare-devilry was, however, given its due prominence.
The Leader — English daily founded by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya published from Allahabad (now Prayagraj) — pulled the report released by news agency Associated Press. The report — titled as 'A Serious Railway Dacoity' — presented finer details of the event such as the time of the event and described the scene but pegged the total loss due to the incident to Rs 10,000.
An Indian daily used the slug 'Amazing outrage' in a report titled 'Lucknow Train Hold-up — Masked bandits — Passenger Shot Dead'.
The intro read: "A sensational report of a raid of a train by armed and masked bandits comes from Kakori, a station on the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway — eight miles from Lucknow. While part of a well organised gang of 20 stopped the train by pulling the communication cord and robbed the guard's van of chest containing Rs 2,000, others armed with revolvers boarded the train keeping watch over the passenger compartments.
A passenger who offered resistance was shot dead and a European and an Indian were wounded. All members of the gang escaped."
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