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

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106. Five witnesses were examined by the defence on three
Bamrauli alibi. different dates to prove that on Christmas
Day, 1924, the date of the Bamrauli dacoity,
Ashfaqullah was a member of a "shikar" party near the village in
the Shahjahanpur district where his family own some land. Sami-
ullah Khan (D. W. 19) alias Kallan Khan, who is closely connected
with the family, being the brother-in-law of Safiullah Khan,
Ashfaqullah's elder brother, states that a few days before Christ-
mas Day, 1924 he had come to Shahjahanpur to buy cloth. He
10 met Safiullah Khan on the 23rd December and Safiullah Khan
suggested that they should travel back to his railway station,
Katra, on Christmas Day together. He accordingly did so. With
Safiullah were Ashfaqullah and one Liaqatullah. On arriving at
Katra Station, Safiullah asked him to join his shikar party and on
being pressed he did so, going with them to the village of Nawa-
dia where the property of Ashfaqullah's family is situated.
Safiullah Khan sent word to one Nawab Shakir Ali Khan, suggest- O. P. 152.
ing that the party should come the next day to his village for
"shikar" and in reply the Nawab asked them to come the next day
20 and take food with him. They arrived at his village, Khitawa, the
next morning about 7-30, caught quail in nets till about 11 and
arrived home about 2 p. m. This story is corroborated by Safi-
ullah Khan (D. W. 21), Liaqatullah Khan (D. W. 14), Shakir Ali
Khan (D. W. 3) and Ashiq Ali Khan (D. W. 20). Safiullah Khan
agrees that the date on which the party went was Christmas Day,
1924, after first of all saying it was in 1925. There are some
rather serious discrepancies between his evidence and that of
Kallan Khan, namely as to when they asked Samiullah Khan to
join the shikar party, whether he agreed to go at once, how the
30 party obtained their food, what Samiullah Khan did at Katra
station with the cloth he had bought at Shahjahanpur and why
Ashfaqullah was able to go with them at Christmas. Liaqatullah
Khan is a student at the Islamia College, Lahore, who visits his
home at Shahjahanpur during the vacations. There is nothing in
particular to note about his evidence except that he was not cer-
tain on what date he arrived at Shahjahanpur from Lahore. He
has been acquainted with Ashfaqullah since they were both stu-
dents at Shahjahanpur. He also gives the date when the party
left Shahjahanpur as 25th December. He admits that he is des-
40 cended from the same ancestors as Ashfaqullah. Shakir Ali Khan
is very vague as to the date, saying it was during the Christmas
holidays, between the 24th December and the 2nd January 1925.
He would not commit himself to a more definite date. Ashiq Ali
Khan is a youth of 20, who, there is some reason to think, was
privy to the conspiracy. He is mentioned by Indu Bhushan as an
associate of Ashfaqullah and a letter from Ashfaqullah to him was
found on Ashfaqullah at the time of his arrest (Ex. P. A. 4). He O. P. 153.
is also called "Arfi" and it was thus that Ashfaqullah addressed
him in the letter referred to. He states that he was seeing some