अमर शहीद अशफ़ाक़उल्ला ख़ाँ: व्यक्तित्व और कृतित्व (काकोरी के अमर शहीद का जीवन व रचनाएँ)

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providing the capital; " we will live among our brethren culti-
vators, and will carry on our scheme as well and shall have
sufficient money within a few years. Then we would increase our
propaganda on a grand scale and would invite our companions
to join us."
55. Excluding the evidence of the dacoities, the case against
Summary of case against Ashfaqullah is mainly based on the evidence
Ashfaqullah. of the approvers and of Jagdish Chandar, on
the fact that he absconded on the 26th
10 September, 1925 and remained at large despite the attachment
of his property, on his assumption of false names; while he
was absconding, on the letters which he addressed to his
friend Banarsi Lal at the end of 1923 or beginning of
1924 (Ex. P 14 and 15), showing amongst other things his acquain- O. P. 73.
tance with Ram Prasad and Raushan Singh, and on the letters
and papers which were found in his possession at the time of his
arrest. Ex. P 14 is interesting as showing that even at that time
Ashfaqullah was in favour of propaganda among the peasantry.
The freedom of India', he writes, 'depends only on the culti-
20 vators' The manifesto of the Communist Party found in his box
when he was arrested is couched in much the same style. 'The
battle of national freedom' it says, 'is to be fought by the masses.'
That he realised the seriousness of the case against him is shown
by the various methods he suggests for escaping from India and
by the language used by him in his letters to his relatives. To
Abdul Qadir he writes 'My life is in danger'. To his sister he
writes 'Accept compliments from one of your separated brothers
whom his relatives call a dacoit, a murderer and everything.' His
verses to 'Bedar' show that he has no sympathy with the Swaraj
30 party and the concluding line praying for the advent of communism
betrays the influence of Ram Prasad and the authors of the
communistic pamphlets referred to above. His connection with
Ram Prasad is shown by the evidence of the approvers and of
Jagdish Chandar; and by the evidence of Ram Charan (P. W. 62)
Gauri Shankar (P. W. 61) and Inspector B. Parbhu Dayal Singh
(P. W. 64). The slip of paper in Hindi (Ex. P. 259) found with
Ram Prasad has on it (with other names) the name of 'Ashfaq'.
Banarsi Lal has explained that the numbers on this slip of paper
against each name refer to the number of copies of a magazine
40 called 'Parnavir' issued by Ram Prasad to each person named. A
copy of this magazine was found in the house of Kunwar Bahadur
(Ex. P. 66). It is a registered monthly magazine, published at
Nagpur. It deals with political subjects and personalities. The O. P. 74.
copy found with Kunwar Bahadur is for August, 1924 and a 'Tilak'
number.
There are a few more points to be taken into consideration in
connection with the case of Ashfaqullah. Indu Bhushan states that
he went to Ashfaqullah's house on the afternoon of the 26th