New Delhi: In an extraordinary development, Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, said in a Pune court on Monday (August 17) that Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse were active members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and accused of the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.
He also affirmed that Nathuram shot and killed Mahatma Gandhi, reports Bar & Bench.
Nathuram was given the death penalty for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, which occurred on January 30, 1948. He was hanged on November 15, 1949.
The development is unusual because the statements were made by Satyaki during his own cross-examination in a defamation suit he himself brought against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi allegedly said in March 2023 that Savarkar wrote he found it “pleasurable” to assault a Muslim man. As per Satyaki, Savarkar was defamed by Rahul Gandhi’s remark.
The defamation case is currently in the cross-examination stage. Satyaki’s lawyers had said on August 7 that the case had dragged on for very long, and appealed to the Pune court to speed up the cross-examination, as it was causing their client “mental agony“.
On Monday, Gandhi’s advocate Milind D. Pawar once again quizzed Satyaki on Savarkar and other family members at the court of Amol Shriram Shinde, a Judicial Magistrate First Class, in a designated Special MP/MLA court.
Gandhi’s lawyers asked Satyaki several questions about Savarkar’s other associates and relatives and their role in the Hindu Mahasabha as well as assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Satyaki conceded that his maternal grandfather, Gopal Godse, and granduncle Vinayak Savarkar, were among the accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, reports Live Law. Satyaki’s mother was the daughter of Gopal Godse.
Narayan Apte was also convicted in the case of assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Savarkar was not convicted.
“It is true to say that out of these accused, Nathuram Godse and Narayan Apte were sentenced to death. It is true to say that Gopal Godse was sentenced to imprisonment for life and, after undergoing the sentence, he came to Pune to reside…It is true to say that while residing in Pune, Gopal Godse wrote articles in newspapers and wrote books,” Satyaki submitted to the court, Live Law reports.
Satyaki’s lawyer Sangram Kothalkar opposed the questions posed by Gandhi’s lawyer. However, the court decided to consider these objections at the time of the final judgment, Bar & Bench reported.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
