VaughnBrooks3 at 06:06, 6 February 2026

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{{short description|Bengali revolutionary (1910–2000)}}
{{about|Indian revolutionary and member of the Bengal Volunteers|Indian abstract artist|Bimal Das Gupta}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bimal Dasgupta
| image = Bimal Dasgupta.jpg
| caption = Photograph of Bimal Dasgupta
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|04|29|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Jhalkathi, [[Barishal]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British India]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|03|03|1910|04|29|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Midnapore]],
[[West Bengal]], [[India]]
| occupation = Revolutionary
| organization = [[Bengal Volunteers]]
| movement = [[Indian Freedom Movement]]
| known for =
| citizenship =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Bimal Dasgupta''' (29 April 1910 – 3 March 2000), nicknamed "Makhan", was an Indian revolutionary and member of the [[Bengal Volunteers]] who carried out assassinations against British colonial officials in an attempt to secure Indian independence.
<ref name="mymedinipur">{{cite web|url=https://mymedinipur.com/medinipur-freedom-movement-freedom-fighter/Bimal-Dasgupta/freedom-fighters-of-undivided-medinipur/freedom-fighters-of-bengal|website=mymedinipur.com|title=Bimal Dasgupta-medinipur-freedom-movement-freedom-fighter-mymedinipur|access-date=January 19, 2022}}</ref>

== Family ==
Bimal Dasgupta was born in [[Jhalokati District]], [[Barishal]] in 1910.{{Citation needed|date= May 2022}} His father was Akhyay Kumar Dasgupta, an ayurvedic doctor.{{Citation needed|date= May 2022}} His mother's name was Sushila Devi. His father came to [[Midnapore]] permanently when he was only 4 years old. His parental uncle Hiralal Dasgupta was already lived here. They were four brothers and five sisters. He joined the [[Bengal Volunteers]], a revolutionary organisation of [[British India]].<ref name="Sansad">{{Cite book|title=Sansad Bangali Charitavidhan (Bengali)|last=Vol I|first=Subodhchandra Sengupta & Anjali Basu|publisher=Sahitya Sansad|year=2002|isbn=81-85626-65-0|location=Kolkata|pages=297}}</ref>

==Education==
Dasgupta started his education at Mahendra babur [[Pathsala]], [[Mir Bazar]].<ref>{{Cite book|title= অন্বেষন |last=সোমরাজ বোস |first=VOL.I|publisher=Soumen Jana | year=2013|location=Kolkata|pages=61}}</ref> Then he was admitted to the [[Vidyasagar Vidyapith]] as a class 5 student at Hindu school from class 7 to class10. Hindu school was a private school at that time. Later he came under the influence of [[Dinesh Gupta]], who was a student of [[Midnapore College]] at that time. Dinesh Gupta came to Midnapore after the instruction of Netaji [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] and stayed with his brother Jyotish Gupta who was a lawyer in Midnapore judges court. This way Dasgupta joined the Bengal Volunteers, a revolutionary organisation of British India. His paternal uncle was Hiralal Dasgupta,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Swadhinata Sangrame Barisal |last=Hiralal Dasgupta |first=VOL.I|publisher=Shishu Sahitya Samsad Pvt Ltd|year=2013|location=Kolkata|pages=100| isbn =9788186806272}}</ref> headmaster of [[Midnapore Collegiate School]]. He forced his uncle to patronize a handicraft fair on collegiate school premises and continued it till 7 April.

== Revolutionary activities ==

[[ File:Andaman Cellular Jail - Port Blair 2009-04-15 4150246.JPG |thumb|Dasgupta's name on the Andaman Cellular Jail list, Port Blair 2009]]
[[File:Bimal dasgupta 1.jpg|thumb|Bimal Dasgupta after release]]
Dinesh Gupta fought in the Battle of the [[Writers' Building|Writers Buildings]] but somehow survived.<ref name="bp">{{cite book |last=Mohanta |first=Sambaru Chandra |year=2012 |chapter=Gupta, Dinesh Chandra |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Gupta,_Dinesh_Chandra |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref> After discussion it was decided by the Bengal Volunteers group that the first target would be James Peddie the [[District Magistrate]] of [[Medinipur]]. Peddie had earned notoriety, he would beat the salt [[Satyagraha|satyagrahis]] to unconsciousness and even killed some of them by kicking them. He would also take unarmed women to the open streets, strip them and leave them there. A list of four names was sent to the Calcutta Headquarters of the Bengal volunteers for approval. They were Shashanka Dasgupta, Phani Kundu, [[Jyoti Jibon Ghosh]] and Bimal Dasgupta. On 7 April at around 5:00 p.m., Peddie went to the fair{{clarify|date=March 2024}} to distribute prizes, along with two officers, 16 police dogs and 16 bodyguards. He was busy in the exhibition when Ghosh and Dasgupta shot him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://wbcorrectionalservices.gov.in/history_heritage03.html|title=Midnapore Central Correctional Home|website=wbcorrectionalservices.gov.in|access-date=February 24, 2018}}</ref> After the shootout they took a cycle and fled to the Salbani Jungle. There they boarded from two different railway stations [[Godapiasal railway station|Godapiasal]] and [[Salboni railway station|Salboni]], and reached [[Purulia]] by Gomo Passenger.{{clarify||date=March 2024}} A revolutionary named Binod Sen aks Binod Bihari Sen from village Godapiasal helps them for this matter. After that they spent some days in [[Asansol]] and [[Kolkata]]. His uncle refused to give any information about Peddies' killers and lost his job.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://indiankanoon.org/doc/600128/|title= Emperor vs Nirmal Jiban Ghose And Ors. on 30 August, 1934| access-date= October 28, 2021}}</ref> He worked in [[Jharia coalfield]] for some time during this period.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hssXP1hBYscC&q=Bhattacharya+killed+magistrate+Douglas&pg=PA254|title=History of the Freedom Movement in India (1857–1947)|last=S. N. Sen|year=1997|publisher=New Age International |isbn=9788122410495|access-date=March 11, 2018}}</ref> Some days later Dasgupta was again given the responsibility of killing Villiers, chief editor of the newspaper ''[[The Statesman (India)|The Statesman]]'' of Clive Street. On July 29, 1931, Dasgupta shot Villiers in his office. He got caught before he could take the cyanide out of his pocket. Police eventually found him as a defendant in the Peddie Murder case after he was assumed to be dead, as the revolutionary [[Kanailal Bhattacharjee]], who killed R. R. Galik, a judge of the [[Alipore]] court, on 27 July 1931 and was martyred under the name of Bimal Dasgupta (or Bimal Gupta) so that the police would stop searching for the real Dasgupta.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Club |first=Laughing |date=2013-09-18 |title=MARXIST INDIANA: 134. Kanailal Bhattacharya (1909-27.7.1931) |url=http://radhikaranjan.blogspot.com/2013/09/blog-post.html |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=MARXIST INDIANA}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dey |first=Soilish |title=মৃত্যুর চেয়ে বড় |publisher=Biswabani Prakasani |pages=171}}</ref> The sacrifice of Bhattacharjee, to remain anonymous and save another revolutionary from the hands of the police is rare in history. At the initiative of Netaji [[Subhas Chandra Bose]], three barristers stood for the revolutionaries in the special tribunal. Ghosh was acquitted and during cross-examination, key witness Sushil Das said, "Peddi's killer is not Bimal Dasgupta." To save Dasgupta, [[Raja Narendra Lal Khan]] of Medinipur had instructed Das to say this. Although Dasgupta was acquitted of the murder of Peddie, he was sentenced to ten years in prison in the Villiers murder case.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bengali.news18.com/news/local-18/west-midnapore-even-after-independence-revolutionary-bimal-dasgupta-was-arrested-from-medinipur-college-ground-pbd-642923.html |title=Independence Day 2021: দেশ স্বাধীনের পর মেদিনীপুর কলেজ মাঠ থেকে পাকড়াও করা হয়েছিল বিপ্লবী বিমল দাশগুপ্ত-কে!|date=16 August 2021 |publisher= bengali.news18.com|access-date=October 28, 2021}}</ref>

==Prison Life==

In the middle of 1932, Dasgupta was sent to the Andaman Cellular Jail. In 1936 he went on a hunger strike to demand the status of a political prisoner.<ref>{{Cite book|title= Islands Of India |last= Dr. Sarit Kumar Mukerji |publisher= Publications Division |date= December 15, 2009| isbn= 9788123022857|pages=242 }}</ref> The fast was called off with the mediation of Subhash Chandra Bose and [[Muzaffar Ahmad]]. He was repatriated in 1938 but was not released. Dasgupta spent four years in various prisons on the mainland of Bengal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.midnapore.in/bv.html|title= -Bengal Volunteers of Midnapore|access-date=October 28, 2021}}</ref>

==Last life==

After being freed in 1942 he was looking after the land in his home in Medinipur. He worked as a sales inspector of [[Anandabazar Patrika|Anandabazar newspaper]] after independence.<ref>{{Cite book|title=বেঙ্গল ভলান্টিয়ার
|last= MADHUMANTI SENGUPTA |publisher= Ananda Publishers |date= January 1, 2016 |isbn=978-9389876772|location= Kolkata |pages=}}</ref>

== Death==

Bimal Dasgupta died on March 3, 2000.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.bhavans.info/heritage/martyrs.asp| title=FLASH BACK : Three Collectors Killed: More Martyrs Born| publisher=bhavans.info| access-date=December 21, 2021| archive-date=January 19, 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119075232/https://www.bhavans.info/heritage/martyrs.asp| url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Indian Revolutionary Movement}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dasgupta, Bimal}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Anti-British establishment revolutionaries from East Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian nationalism]]
[[Category:Indian people convicted of murder]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian murderers]]
[[Category:People from Paschim Medinipur district]]
[[Category:Revolutionaries from West Bengal]]

Bimal Dasgupta - Revision history

VaughnBrooks3 at 06:06, 6 February 2026