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

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towards the brake van. Dr. Gupta also got out and followed them.
When he saw the guard coming from his brake van he shouted
that these three men had pulled the chain and as his voice was not
very loud he told the ice vendor Abdul Wadud, who had also got
out, to tell the guard also. After going a short distance behind the
men he returned to his carriage. From there he saw that the guard
had met the three men and had gone with them to the brake van
and that there was a gathering of men there. Firing then com-
menced and as soon as he realised that a dacoity was in progress
10 he got back into his carriage, changing later on into another
compartment as he thought that it was dangerous for him to remain
in the same one, the reason being that the three men knew that
he must have had a good view of them and might have come back
to kill him.
85. Abdul Wadud, ice vendor, was in a compartment adjoin-
ing that of Dr. Gupta. He got out at Kakori
[Story of the ice vendor.] and passed up and down the carriages selling
ice and lemonade. While passing his compart-
ment and also on returning to it just before the train started he O. P. 120.
20 saw that three men were sitting in Dr. Gupta's carriage who had
not previously been there. He has identified the two accused in
this case as two of these men. He got out when the train stopped
and followed the three men as far as the officer's saloon. He saw
seven men get out of the third class carriage near the saloon.
They went to the brake van and joined other men there and the
three men from the second class carriage joined the whole party.
Ashfaqullah took a pistol out of the bag which he was carrying and
fired first of all in the air. After hearing them tell the guard to
lie down and seeing the safe thrown out he ran back to his compart-
30 ment.
86. The evidence of Babu Sukhnandan Lal (P. W. 15) station
[Evidence of the Kakori station master.] master of Kakori, supports that of Dr. Gupta.
He states that while Dr. Gupta was getting the
medicine for him he noticed three men sitting
on the other side of the carriage, dressed in khaki. One of them
was facing him and the other was looking through the window on
the other side of the carriage. The witness identified Ashfaqullah
as the man who was facing him. He was sent to various jails for
identification purposes but could identify only Ashfaqullah.
40 87. The evidence of these witnesses has been attacked mainly
[Defence arguments.] on the following grounds:—
(i) It was not light enough at the time of the dacoity for
them to distinguish the features of the dacoits.
(ii) The train did not stop long enough at Kakori for the ice
vendor to have a good view of Ashfaqullah and Bakshi there, espe-
cially as according to Babu Sukhnandan Lal two of the three men