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

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CHAPTER V. O. P. 116.
The Kakori Train Dacoity.
83. The story of the train dacoity on the 9th August 1925 is
told in most detail by the guard Jagannath
Story of the guard, Jagan- Prasad (P. W. 4). He states that after the
nath Prasad. train had proceeded a mile from Kakori outer
signal in the direction of Alamnagar the communication cord was
pulled. The train began to stop and before it had finally stopped he
got out to see what was the matter. It will be seen from Ex. P. 86
10 that the train consisted (in the order given) of engine, empty
brake van, three third class bogies, a first and second class com-
posite coach, a mixed inter class and third class bogie, three
third class bogies, an officer's saloon and a brake van divided
into two compartments. Jagannath Prasad was in this rear brake
van. On getting out he went towards the engine on the left
hand side of the train. When he reached the third class com-
partment near the inter class compartment he saw three men
dressed in khaki coming in his direction, one of whom was
Ashfaqullah. Behind these three men were a railway doctor
20 named Gupta (P. W. 25) and an ice vendor named Abdul Wadud
(P. W. 28). They both told the guard that these three men had
pulled the communication cord. The guard asked them if this
was correct and one of them replied in the affirmative, saying
he had left a box behind at Kakori. They went on past him,
while he followed, asking them for their tickets. They made no
reply. On reaching the brake van the guard who was still follow-
ing them found that there were some men inside it and some
outside it, numbering altogether 20 to 25. The three men joined O. P. 117.
them. Ashfaqullah then took a bag from his neck and firing
30 began. One man shouted to the passengers telling them to remain
in their carriages and another man ordered the guard to lie
down, saying that if he did not his head would be blown off.
The guard did as he was ordered lying down on his side some
four or five paces from the brake van which he could still par-
tially see. He heard one man say 'Jamadar, throw the box
out of the brake van' and there followed the noise of a box
falling down. As soon as it had fallen down from the van the
dacoits began to try and force it open. Meanwhile other dacoits
continued to fire on both sides of the train and to warn the
40 passengers not to come out of their carriages, telling them they
were not going to loot them and that they only wanted the rail-
way treasure. There was an interval while the Dehra Express
passed, firing being stopped and the dacoits all assembling on
the other side of the train. It took about half an hour for
the dacoits to force open the safe. They then asked the guard
if that was all. He replied that it was, although in fact there
were three other safes in the other part of the brake van. The