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Rajendranath Lahiri Punyatithi
• Rajendranath Lahiri was born on 29 June 1901, in a landowner’s family in Pabna (area of present-day Bangladesh).
• While he was pursuing his Masters (History) from Banaras Hindu University, he got acquainted with the famous revolutionary, Sachindra Nath Sanyal. Seeing the fire, spirit and passion for freedom in Lahiri, Sanyal made him the editor of magazine 'Banga Vani' and the coordinator and arms in-charge for the Varanasi branch of Anushilan Samiti.
• Shachindranath Sanyal was one of the founders of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA) (which later adopted the word socialist, thus becoming the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). Lahiri soon became a member of the HSRA.
• The HSRA, with its aim to oust the British from India through an armed and organized revolution, initially looted wealthy landowners to fund their firearms and the printing of their literature and posters. However, they soon realized that this was antithetical to their notion of freedom. So it was collectively decided to rob government.
• One of his most notable robberies took place on 09 August 1925. Famously known as the 'Kakori conspiracy case', Rajendranath Lahiri along with Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaq Ullah Khan and Thakur Roshan Singh looted a train carrying government money near Lucknow.
• Among the revolutionaries, Lahiri was one of the most well-read. Many a times, the subject of religion in the public and private domains were debated. Despite being a Brahmin himself, Lahiri constantly challenged the social and traditional customs of the upper caste Hindu society. So that he discarded the sacred thread (Janeu) that was considered integral to Brahmins. He opined that social prejudices were stumbling block in the path of progress, and they had to be broken off mercilessly.
• In the 1920, Lahiri was regarded as a symbol of Indian revolutionary movement transformation. The revolutionary movement saw a change from anti-British nationalism to socialism in terms of ideology and a shift towards atheism in terms of religious beliefs.
• After the 'Kakori Conspiracy Case', Lahiri and eight other revolutionaries were sent to a bomb factory in Dakshineswar to learn bomb making.
• Lahiri, the mastermind behind this lesser-known case of 'Dakshineshwar Bomb Case', was sentenced to ten years and sent to the Cellular Jail in Andaman.
• However, once the trial for the Kakori train robbery began, Lahiri was identified as a co-conspirator and his sentence was then transferred from the Cellular Jail to the Lucknow Central Jail. Here he was tried along with other revolutionaries.
• On 17 December, 1927, Lahiri was hanged in the Gonda District Jail (UP), two days before his specified execution date because the British authorities feared that the revolutionaries would attempt yet another escape.
• Lahiri's hanging stands out not just in revolutionary history but also in the history of capital punishment in general, as it was the first time that a death sentence was carried out ahead of schedule.
• Rajendranath Lahiri's supreme sacrifice for the nation is commemorated as every year on 17 December 'Lahiri Diwas’ in Gonda district. In tribute, his statue has also been installed in the Gonda District Jail.

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