‘Nathuram Godse wanted rebirth to kill Gandhi again’

TNN

Ranchi, 30 Jan 2015: Nathuram Godse believed in rebirth and wanted to "kill Gandhi again" in his next birth. The confession by none other than the assassin of Gandhi, who made headlines again after more than six decades when a BJP MP described him as a "patriot" and a Hindu body allegedly performed a ceremony in Meerut for construction of a "temple dedicated to Godse", was revealed by a former CID sleuth.

 

Babu Harihar Singh (96) had a tryst with history when he became part of the six-member investigating team that quizzed Godse after Gandhi’s assassination on January 30, 1948. Singh, who retired as ASP in erstwhile Bihar in 1977, is perhaps the only survivor who had seen both Gandhi and Godse.

 

However, old age has not made Singh’s memory feeble and he remembered vividly what Godse had told the CID sleuths in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail. "I am a Hindu and I believe in rebirth. Since I will be hanged and will die an untimely death, I may remain as a spirit till I am reborn. I pray to god that I am reborn with Gandhi so that I can kill him again," Singh quoted Godse as saying during interrogation.

 

The investigating team comprised two sub-inspectors, one assistant sub-inspector (Singh) and two constables and was led by inspector Manohar Jha who interrogated Godse for 45 days. "There were CID teams from different states who camped at the military barrack in Worli and interrogated Godse one by one for 45 days," he said, adding, "the idea to call CID teams from states like Punjab, Madras, Central India agency and Delhi was to find his link in different states, and accordingly the CID would work with police of the respective states to establish the case," said Singh, who stays with his family in Ranchi.

 

The team went to erstwhile Bombay in the first week of March 1948 and returned in mid-April. "Godse had always been cooperative with the investigators. Fair complexioned and blessed with a smart personality, he had no remorse for his act and was frank enough to express himself," Singh reminisced but refused to be judgmental.

 

Asked if he tried to know the reason behind Godse’s hatred for Mahatma Gandhi, Singh said quoting Godse, "I used to respect him as a saint because he always spoke the truth, which was not easy, but he was a failed politician."

 

Singh further explained that Gandhi’s pro-minority policies, particularly the communal riots of Naokhali (now in Bangladesh), irked Godse. The co-conspirator, Narayan Apte, was also locked up in the Arthur Road Jail.