Rodda company arms heist
| Anushilan Samiti |
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 |
| Influence |
| Anushilan Samiti |
| Notable events |
| Related topics |
The Rodda company arms heist took place on 26 August 1914 in
The heist was a sensational incident, being described by The Statesman as the "Greatest daylight robbery".[1] In the following years, the pistols and ammunitions were linked to almost all the incidences of nationalist struggles in Bengal. By 1922, the police had recovered most of the stolen arms.Background
Western Anushilan Samiti in the aftermath of
Heist
Rodda & Co. was a prominent British-owned gun store situated at the time in Vansittart Row in Calcutta.
On the day of the 26th, Mitra headed to the Customs house in Calcutta to receive the shipment on behalf of Rodda & Co. With him were seven
Aftermath
The news of the arms heist became sensational. The Statesman, in its edition on 30 August 1914 described the heist as "The greatest daylight robbery". Haridas Dutta was arrested in September 1914, and served prison sentences for his role in the heist, along with Kalidas Basu, Bhujanga Dhar and Girindranath Banerjee. In the following years, these arms were linked to the majority of revolutionary crimes in Calcutta and Bengal till 1917, including Bagha Jatin during his last stand at the banks of Budhabalanga River. By 1922, the police had recovered most of the stolen arms.
Commemoration
Mukherjee, the planner of the heist, along with Bannerjee, Dutta, and Bipin Bihary Ganguly are commemorated in Calcutta today, with their statues of their busts erected in Mononga Lane.
Notes and references
Notes
- ^ a b c "Kolkata's 'greatest daylight robbery' all but forgotten". The Statesman. 25 August 2013. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016.
- ^ a b Sarkar 1983, p. 147 In Bengal, the revolutionaries achieved a major success in August 1914, when a large consignment of 50 Mauser pistols and 46,000 rounds of ammunition was appropriated by them from the Rodda firm in Calcutta through a sympathetic employee.
- ^ Popplewell 1995, p. 112
- ^ a b Roy 1997, p. 6 Two centres were established, one was the Sramajibi Samabaya ... and the other in the name of S.D. Harry and Sons ... Naren committed several dacoities to raise funds, for poliiical activities.
- ^ Samanta 1995, p. 625 It has been alleged that during the visit of the Crown Prince of Germany to Calcutta in 1912, Narendra Bhattacharji and Jatin Mukharji had an interview with him and that he had given them an assurance that arms and ammunition would be supplied to them.
References
- Popplewell, Richard James (1995), Intelligence and Imperial Defence: British Intelligence and the Defence of the Indian Empire, 1904-1924, London: Frank Cass, ISBN 978-0-7146-4580-3
- Roy, Samaren (1997), M. N. Roy: A Political Biography, Orient Longman, ISBN 81-250-0299-5
- Samanta, Amiya K., ed. (1995), Terrorism in Bengal: Origin, growth and activities of the organisations like Anushilan Samiti, Jugantar Party, Dacca Shri Sangha and other such organisations, vol. 2, Government of West Bengal, OCLC 604388307
- ISBN 978-0-333-90425-1