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

( 95 ) CHAPTER VII. O. P. 148.
*Statement and defence of Ashfaqullah Khan.* 103. In his statement to the committing magistrate (Ex.
*Statement to committing* P. A. 56) Ashfaqullah denied all the charges 312 magistrate. against him. He stated that he knew Ram
Prasad, Hargobind, Prem Kishan, Banarsi Lal and Indu Bhushan just as he knew other residents of Shah-
jahanpur. He denied all knowledge of the White and Yellow leaflets and reserved his statement about the prosecution witnes-
10 ses and his identification by many of them for this court. He did not admit any connection with the letters and papers found
in his possession at the time of his arrest or with the letters Ex. P. 14, 15 and 16 purporting to have been sent by him to
Banarsi Lal, but stated that he would make a statement about them in the court of Session. He admitted that he disappeared
after the 26th September 1925 for fear of the police, as he came to know there was a warrant out against him. He denied that
he had stayed at the Royal Hotel, Delhi, on the 25th and 26th, August, 1926, and that the signature "Murari Mohan" in the
20 hotel register was his. He admitted that he signed the search list Ex. P. A. 32 in the name of Abid Raza Khan and explained
that he did so for fun (tafrihan). He finally alleged that his identi- fication by the witnesses was due to the fact that his photograph
had been in the possession of the police and that at the identifica- tion parade the Public Prosecutor, M. Khairat Nabi, would not let
him speak or raise objections. This latter allegation is proved to be false by the evidence of the committing magistrate, Khan O. P. 149.
Bahadur Saiyid Ainuddin who conducted the proceedings (P. W. 117) and by the record of those proceedings, (Ex. P. A. 50) which
30 shows that he was asked in respect of each identification whether he had any objection to urge.
104. In this court Ashfaqullah has further elaborated his objections in respect of the identification pro-
*Statement in Sessions* ceedings. He states that after his arrest in Court. Delhi his face was uncovered on numerous
occasions: a photograph found in his trunk was not sealed up for some days in spite of his request to the magistrate that it should
be; the C. I. D. Inspector Mr. Gobind Bihari had an opportunity of thoroughly examining his features and described him to the
40 identifying witnesses and there were numerous differences between him and the five men paraded with him. He denies that
there has been any friendship between him and Banarsi Lal during the last two or three years, explaining that he severed all connec-
tion both with him and with Ram Prasad as a result of the commu- nal riots in Shahjahanpur in 1924 and also because Banarsi Lal
had appropriated some European cloth which had been given up for burning. He admits that the manuscript papers found in his trunk