Nathuram Godse had surrendered to the Delhi Police on the spot The enquiry started that very night As long as Nathuram's name was not disclosed people were making wild guesses The refugees became restless lest the assassin of Gandhiji might turn out to be one of them! Subsequently Nathuram's name was disclosed and it was clear that he was neither a Punjabi, nor a Bengali, nor a Sindhi nor even a refugee! Joy was openly expressed in cities like Amritsar, Ambala, Calcutta, Kanpur and others.Digamber Ramchandra Badge was arrested by the Pune Police on 31 1 1948 and later taken in their charge by the Bombay Police.

Thousands of people nationwide were arrested under Preventive Detention laws V D Savarkar was one of them also. Later, and apparently for reasons stated in the chapter dealing with Savarkar, the arrest of Savarkar was converted from one under the Preventive Detention Act into one as an accused in the Gandhi Murder case adding to the information he had given to the investigation relating to it.

On Monday morning, ie on 2.2 1948 when I (Gopal Godse) took leave of my wife and left the house I had given her a fair idea of the possibility of my being arrested any time. At that time I had set up my residence at Khadki, a suburb of Pune. On the 5th of February 1948, I left Khadki for Kamshet. I got down at Kamshet and made for Uksan which was at a distance of ten miles from Kamshet. I had not covered half the distance when I saw the Police van following me. They took me in their van.

Shankar Kistaiyya, Badge's servant walked into the CID Office, Bombay on 6.2.1948 The last persons to be arrested were Nana Apte and Karkare, who were arrested in Bombay by the Police on the 13th and 14th of February, 1948. Dr.Parchure of Gwalior was arrested and imprisoned in the Gwalior Fort itself.

On the 25th of May 1948 all of us who had been kept in the C.I.D. Office, Bombay, were taken to Delhi by plane in two batches. As Savarkar was not well on that day he was brought to Delhi on the next day i e on the 26th of May 1948 from the Arthur Road Prison.

On the 27th of May 1948, we were brought to the entrance of the Special prison in the Red Fort and it was there, that we all, including Savarkar and Dr Parchure, saw one another. The badge had turned approver before the date fixed for the next hearing He did not sit in the dock thereafter.

In 1947, the Bombay Legislature passed a law, known as the Bombay Public Security Measures Act (Act IV of 1947) with provisions such as the appointment of a special Court, the appointment of a single judge with the powers to record, setting aside the usual procedure, the charge sheets and charges, to pronounce the death sentence or the sentence of transportation for life, for the attempt of murder, to conduct the work of prosecution promptly and continuously, to reduce the period of appeal from 60 days to 15 days. This Act was made applicable to the Province of Delhi in 1948 in so far as this prosecution was concerned.

From the murky, musty atmosphere of solitude, we had come into the open environment of the Court. It was the 27th of May 1948 and the time was half-past nine in the morning. The atmosphere in the Court was still more reliving The Court-room was a hall, admeasuring about a hundred feet in length and twenty-two feet in width, and located on the first floor.

The Gandhi assassination case had assumed as much importance and gravity as the actual incident of the assassination. One of the reasons for this was that the Government had been implicated in this conspiracy no less than a person than the internationally well-known Swantantrya- veer Savarkar himself, - Savarkar, who for the major part of his life had organized secret societies for the liberation of India from foreign bondage inside and out of India, he, who endured incomparable hardships, harassment, and torture in that attempt, and he, who rekindled the flame of self-respect amongst the Hindus by propounding and propagating the political philosophy for the Hindu Nation.

Half a minute before Ten, the Registrar of the Court announced the arrival of the Judge The Photographers focused their cameras on the Judge and the dazzling flashlights glowed and flickered off one after another Shri CK Daphtary stood up, saluted the judge read out the charge sheet against the accused, and submitted it to the Court. Then the Court ordered the summaries of the statements of the witnesses to be given to the defence counsels by the 2nd of June 1948. The Court would sit again on the 3rd of June 1948. After returning from the Court, we arranged our luggage.

As was decided earlier, the Prosecution supplied Shri Annarao Bhopatkar with a copy of the statements of the witnesses. Although Shri Bhopatkar was pleading for Savarkar, he was entrusted with the overall guidance of the defense in general Shri Ganpat Rai and Shri Jamnadas Mehta and other pleaders helped the other accused besides their work for the defense of Savarkar.

The Court framed the charges against us accused on the 22nd of June 1948. The Judge asked each of the accused if he accepted the charges to be true, and we denied the charges Madan Lal submitted a written statement while denying the charges, in which he had said: I deny that there was ever any conspiracy to do any harm whatever to Mahatma Gandhi or that I was involved in such conspiracy The incident of 20th January 1948 was meant only to demonstrate the widespread dissatisfaction in the country with the pro-Muslim policy and action which Gandhiji was advocating in those days It was nothing more.

While denying the charges, Dr Parchure said that he was a resident of Gwalior The State of Gwalior had not acceded to the Union Government of India by then, and the Government of India had not issued the extradition warrant against Dr Parchure before he was taken into custody.

Shri CK Daphtary, the Chief Public Prosecutor, opened the case and at the end of the day he requested the Court to visit the site of the incident Nathuram declined Apte, Karkare, Madan Lal and Gopal (myself) indicated their desire to visit the spot, while Shankar Kistaiyya, Dr.Parchure, and Savarkar said they were not interested The visit was fixed at 10 am on the 24th of June 1948.

We were observing the spot to answer the statements the Prosecutors might make to prove the charge they had leveled against us. But that was a minor consideration with us because our lawyers were more competent The thought, that we were very thickly connected with the background of the incident because of which that place had suddenly sprung into the limelight, was uppermost in our minds.

That was a spot where a chapter of Indian history came to an end because it was a place where the life of one who had dominated for decades the political life of the Indian nation was ended And again it was a place that made it imperative for others with peaceful disposition to stake their lives. It was a place where a society besmeared all over with blood as a consequence of the false notions of the Hindu-Muslim unity went to show Gandhiji their open gashes and the deep-rooted sorrow of their hearts and to tell him the harrowing tales of the thousands of victims of the Partition That was a place where they expected their bleeding wounds to find a tongue strong enough to voice their unbearable affliction to the world But it was also a place where the selfish sycophants gathered around Gandhij and gave him the expression that his policy of non-violence was completely successful and that the political revolution had been brought about without even a drop of blood being shed. This was the same spot where Gandhiji confirmed to Maulana Azad that the refugees from Pakistan who had sought shelter in India and housed in the houses of those Muslims who had left the country for their new home in Pakistan should again be transported and the Muslims who had left should be wooed to come back and their property be returned to them. This was the place where the fast to compel the Government to revert its decision of withholding the payment of fifty-five crores of rupees was undertaken. And lastly, it was the place where the anti-Hindu policies emanated, and as it emerged in the years to come, were so conveniently adopted for selfish gains.

As we were surveying the place all this fresh history was unfolding itself before our eyes once again. This recent past did not appear to us as clear as it was made out to be, nor did it appear bloodless. We felt that the very atmosphere there was surcharged with blood, the blood of the martyrs who laid down their lives for the attainment of national freedom, the blood of the innocent victims of the inhuman atrocities committed due to the vivisection of the country. We also felt that as a natural concomitant to all this, the blood of Gandhiji was lending a deepening dye to this ghastly atmosphere. And now perhaps as a culminating draught, this hideous atmosphere was thirsting for the blood of at least some of us.

All this blood that was shed and that was still to be shed, was, I thought the price that we paid for the national independence won so dearly. His assassination was likely to demand the sacrifice of the lives of some of us, accused. While saying that Swaraj was attained without any bloodshed, we unwillingly insult -- and sadly enough - do not realize the blood so profusely shed by the millions of Hindus. We are gulled by the crafty selfish politicians and their sycophants, by dinning this falsehood into our ears day in and day out.

The trial began and the prosecution commenced the evidence. The prosecution endeavored to establish connections between the accused with one another during the period which they alleged to be the possible days of conspiracy. Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were the editor and managing director respectively, of the daily Hindu Rashtra. This fact was undisputed. The prosecution showed the travels made by both of them together to Bombay, Delhi, and Gwalior They further showed their stay at Marina Hotel, New Delhi between 17th January 1948 to 20th January 1948 and in the railway station retiring room at Delhi Junction on 29th and 30th of January 1948.

The prosecution had also alleged that Karkare, myself [Gopal Godse], Madan Lal Pahwa, Digambar Badge, and Shankar Kistatyya had gathered in the Marina Hotel on the 20th of January 1948. But for this allegation on the part of the prosecution, there was no other evidence than that of Digambar Badge, the approver.

A witness from the Marina Hotel where Nathuram and Apte had stayed brought in their register to show the entries of Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte under fictitious names.

A taxi driver deposed that he took Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte, myself Vishnu Karkare, Digamber Badge, and Shankar Kistatyya to the Birla House on the evening of the 201 1948 and also took three of them back to Connaught Place.

The prosecution brought some witnesses against Dr. Parchure to prove that he was originally from British India, that is from that part of India which was not governed by the Princes. The prosecution wanted to establish that since Dr. Parchure belonged to British India, no extradition warrant was necessary. There was yet another point. No Arms Act was existing in Gwalior State. Dr. Parchure could not be charged with an offence under the Arms Act if it were proved that he hailed from Gwalior which State had not merged in the Union of India till the day in question.

To show that the conspiracy continued even after the 20th of January 1948 till the goal of assassinating Gandhi Ji on the 30th of January 1948 was reached, the prosecution brought a witness from Thane (Maharashtra) to prove a meeting between Nathuram Godse, Narayan Apte, Karkare and myself. A mere meeting however could not conclude the existence of the conspiracy.

The evidence against Veer Savarkar and his reply to the allegations has been narrated later. The Prosecution had brought as many as 149 witnesses. Their evidence ran into 720 pages.

Then on 8.11.1948, it was the turn of the accused. Accused No.1 was Nathuram Vinayak Godse. He desired to make a detailed statement. Shri C.K.Daphtary objected to the making of any lengthy statement. The Special Judge overruled the objection and said: "Go on, make your statement." And, began Nathuram Godse with words that resounded.