India’s First Biological Weapons Murder Case: An 88-Year-Old Murder. Such a murder in which the weapon used has not been found to date. The only such murder in the history of India became the most talked about in the world. The only murder on which the world has researched.
That research continues even today. A murder that shook even the reign of Queen Victoria. What was this incident? After all, how did that murder happen, such an incident has not happened in India to date.
While researching this murder, American journalist Dan Morrison has written a book. The name of the book is ‘The Prince and the Poisoner‘. American journalists who wrote it say that the murderer thought that he would dodge the institutions run by Queen Victoria and would survive.
The author has told in a media interview that this murder at Hawda railway station can be called a completely modern murder. He explains that in the history of the world, biological weapons are being used since the sixth century BC. Comparisons are also being made to the killing of Kim Jong-Nam, the 45-year-old cousin brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
World Sensational Murder Mystery
This is a sensational incident of the year 1933. Date 26 November. Place Hawda Railway Station. As usual, there was a lot of activity outside this station on that day also. The well-known landlord Amarendra Chandra Pandey was passing through the crowd outside the station. Amarendra, a young man of 20 years, was walking in his tune. Unaware of this, after some time something untoward is going to happen to them.
He was leaving the crowd when suddenly a man passes by, pushing him. The person who pushed the man was wearing Khadi cloth. But can’t see his face. As soon as that person is out of sight, the young landowner remembers that something pricked his right arm. After a while, the pain also starts. That’s why they start watching. It turns out that something like a needle has been pricked in his arm. Then they start making noise. Look that he has pricked something in my hand.
Amarendra Chandra Pandey was no ordinary person. Rather, the famous landlords of the British era were the heirs of the family. He had a princely state. Whose name was Pakur? Now it is in the state of Jharkhand but at that time it used to be in Bengal. Regarding the prick of the needle, his relatives and acquaintances advise him to rest and also assure a medical examination.
Right now these people were in all these struggles, only then Amarendra Chandra Pandey’s elder and half-brother Benoyendra Chandra Pandey comes there. They also see Amarendra Chandra Pandey’s wound. Talks happen for a while. Then Benoyendra Chandra Pandey says that this keeps happening. What’s the big deal in this?
There is a slight injury. What to worry about. What can be so serious if a minor scratch or something is pricked. This is a common thing. Thinking this and listening to Benoyendra Chandra Pandey’s words, Amarendra Chandra Pandey also decides to continue his journey.
In this way, everything is fine for two days. But on the third day suddenly Amarendra Chandra Pandey gets a fever. Fever is also not mild. Rather fast. Quite annoying from above. Seeing this, Amarendra Chandra Pandey himself gets upset and returns to Kolkata. The treatment also starts here. But the fever does not subside. Nor restlessness.
Rather, the problem keeps on increasing. Breathing also starts. He was being treated but the condition was getting worse. On the night of December 3, that is, only a week after the incident, he has to be kept in a coma. Still, the health does not improve. And then the next morning it happens that no one had thought of. Amarendra Chandra Pandey, the youngest landlord, dies on the morning of 4 December.
Reason Behind Amrendra Chandra Pandey’s Death
the Indian ‘germ murder: Initially doctors told that Amarendra Chandra Pandey died due to pneumonia. Nevertheless, his blood sample had already been sent to the lab for examination. When his report came out after his death, it was very shocking.
Seeing that report, the senses of the landlord’s family were blown away. Because according to the medical report, a deadly bacteria named Yersinia pestis was detected in Amarendra Chandra Pandey’s blood. It was the same bacterium that causes the dreaded plague.
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| Courtesy: bbc.com |
But the question was, how did this bacteria get into Amarendra Chandra Pandey’s body? Didn’t the same needle-pricker put these bacteria in? But was there such a technique in 1933 by which any person walking like this could get bacteria or virus to enter someone’s body? Many such questions were arising.
The question was also that the plague had spread so much in those days, in such a situation that the same disease did not happen. A disease that spreads from rats and insects to humans. India saw the fierce form of this epidemic between 1896 and 1918. During that time, more than 125 million people died of the plague in India and its surrounding countries.
Even after this, the death continued. Between 1929 and 1938, the death toll from the plague was 5 lakh. But when the landowner Amarendra Chandra Pandey died in Calcutta and till 3 years before that, no one died in that area due to plague.
In such a situation, the question was arising that when no one else died due to plague in this area, then how did Amarendra Chandra Pandey only get this disease? These questions were such that the British police of that time did not have answers.
The investigation of Amrendra Chandra Pandey’s Murder
When no cause of death was found in this case, the police started an investigation. During this, it came to know that the landlord Amarendra Chandra Pandey had a lot of property. On which his cousin and 10 years older brother Benoyendra Chandra Pandey had a crooked eye for a long time.
During interrogation, it was also learned that a few years ago, an accident had happened with Amarendra Chandra Pandey, a young landlord. In which blood came out on his face from the glasses, after which he remained ill for several days. Benoyendra Chandra Pandey was also there when this accident happened. In such a situation, doubts were raised that he was not involved in this.
When the police got involved in its investigation, it was also found that on the day when something like a needle was pricked in Amarendra Chandra Pandey’s hand in the crowd outside Howrah railway station, then suddenly Benoyendra Chandra Pandey reached there after some time. These were the questions that were bringing him to court. So, the police started keeping an eye on him.
It was also found in the investigation that the dispute between the two Pandey brothers was going on for a long time. This controversy escalated when Amarendra Chandra Pandey’s father died in 1931. After his death, disputes started between the two for their politics over the Pakur state, famous for coal mines and stone mines.
It also came to light that Amarendra Chandra Pandey was very much liked by the people of the village. The big reason for this was Amarendra Chandra Pandey’s good manners and talking about moral principles. People were very attached to this virtuous-minded young man. At the same time, Benoyendra Chandra Pandey was addicted to alcohol. Discussions of his debauchery and arrogance were everywhere. Therefore, due to these reasons also, the needle of suspicion increased on Benoyendra.
Investigation Report on Amrendra Chandra Pandey’s Murder
In a BBC report, it has been claimed based on court documents that the conspiracy to kill Amarendra Chandra Pandey was hatched in 1932 itself. That is, about a year ago. That day, Dr Taranath Bhattacharya, a close friend of his elder cousin Benoyendra Chandra Pandey, tried to inject the plague bacteria from the medical lab. But his attempt proved unsuccessful.
But he kept on trying. Apart from this, many times the cousin tried to kill Amarendra Chandra Pandey in different ways. But based on interrogation, it was now known that Amarendra Chandra Pandey was killed only through bacteria. But to date, no information has been found about which syringe the bacteria were introduced into the body. And neither were those syringes recovered.
According to court documents, Dr Taranath Bhattacharya had come to Kolkata with Benoyendra Chandra Pandey on 12 July 1933. After getting strong evidence of this, the British police arrested Benoyendra Chandra Pandey and Dr Taranath in February 1934, three months after the murder.
In the investigation of the police, many strong pieces of evidence were found about the involvement of both of them in this incident which the police investigating officers had also found documents related to Benoyendra Chandra Pandey’s travels, bills of hotels in Bombay, papers in his handwriting recorded in the hotel register, messages sent to the lab and receipts of the rat-buying shops. Through which the police had gathered evidence.
The hearing, in this case, went on for 9 months. In which the court had said that it is clear from the evidence that the accused had stolen the plague bacteria from the hospital in Bombay. After this, he was brought alive to Kolkata.
In this hearing, it was found against Benoyendra Chandra Pandey and Dr Taranath Bhattacharya that both had also given money to get Amarendra Chandra Pandey murdered. For this, the help of another person was also taken. In this case, both were given the death penalty.
However, the Calcutta High Court, while hearing the appeal filed in this case in the year 1936, reduced the sentence and commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment. At the same time, two other doctors were acquitted for lack of evidence. The judge hearing this case, while pronouncing the verdict, remarked that this is probably the most special case of crime history.
This unique murder that took place in the British Rule was discussed in the media of the world at that time, but even today there is research and discussion on it. TIME Magazine had termed it as ‘Germ Murder‘ i.e. murder caused by germs. Whereas the Straits Times of Singapore at that time called it ‘Punctured Arm Mystery‘