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

relatives off at Shahjahanpur railway station on Christmas Day, 1924,
and saw the "shikar" party then. He was very clearly a partial
witness as he would not admit that certain letters shown to him
were in Ashfaqullah's handwriting although he admitted that he
had received letters from Ashfaqullah and the letters shown him
had been admittedly written by Ashfaqullah. He admitted that
he had been convicted under the Arms Act in 1925 for having two
pistols without a license. Altogether he appeared to be a very un-
reliable witness. My general impression from the evidence of
these five witnesses is that although there may be some slight 10
foundation for the "shikar" story, the statement that the party
including Ashfaqullah, left Shahjahanpur on the 25th December,
1925, cannot be relied upon.
107. Seven witnesses were produced by the defence on
Bichpuri alibi. four different days to prove that on the
9th March 1925, the date of the Bichpuri
dacoity, Ashfaqullah took part in the ceremony of "Milad
Sharif" at the house of Anwar Husain Khan (D. W. 1). The
witnesses do not give the English date but give the corres-
ponding Muhammadan date, namely the 13th of Shaban, or 20
fix the date with reference to the Shab-i-barat festival which
fell on the 14th of Shaban in 1925. Anwar Husain Khan is
a connection of Ashfaqullah's family, his cousin (one witness says
his sister) being married to Riyasatullah Khan, brother of Ashfaq-
ullah. He states that he had celebrated the Milad regularly on
the 13th Shaban, for the last eight years, this date being fixed for
O. P. 154. it as the month of Shaban is propitious, and convenient for him as
his profits from his sugar factory have come in by then. Ashfaq-
ullah did not attend the Milad in 1926 or 1927 but did so in 1925,
when he assisted the witness in spreading the carpets and distri- 30
buting sweets and pan. Only members of Ashfaqullah's family
assisted him in the Milad, as it was the custom for only relatives
to do so. The story is repeated by Saiyid Ali Ahmad (D. W. 2), a
mukhtar on Rs. 15 a month of an honorary magistrate who is also
said to have attended the Milad in question but who has not ap-
peared as a witness to say so; and by Mashuqullah Khan (D. W.
5), a zamindar who first of all said that it was in 1925 that Safi-
ullah Khan asked that prayers might be offered for Ashfaqullah on
account of the case pending against him, Ashfaqullah himself not
being present on that occasion. Subsequently he said that Ashfaq- 40
ullah was absent for the last two Milads but he did not remember
whether the last Milad was in 1927, though he knew that the
present year is 1927. The house of this witness adjoins that of
Ashfaqullah. As regards the evidence of Inayatullah Khan (D.
W. 6), a zamindar whose antecedents do not appear to have been
altogether above suspicion; of Abdul Fateh Khan (D. W. 17), a
fairly large zamindar, a friend of the family and of the same
"biradari"; of Amjad Ali Khan (D. W. 18), a clerk in the Shahjahan-
pur Municipal office; and of Safiullah Khan, Ashfaqullah's brother,