Bhagat Singh, a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA), vowed revenge. The HSRA’s plan was to kill Superintendent Scott. However, in a case of mistaken identity, Singh, along with Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar, fatally shot Assistant Superintendent John P. Saunders on December 17, 1928. To escape, Bhagat Singh fired at a constable who gave chase (who survived).
As they were hanged, the prison authorities, fearing an uprising, quickly cut down the bodies, smuggled them out, and secretly cremated them on the banks of the Sutlej River. When the news leaked, thousands of Indians flocked to the site, scooping up the ashes and the mud as holy relics—just as Bhagat Singh had done with the mud of Jallianwala Bagh as a boy. The circle was complete. Bhagat Singh’s legend has only grown with time. But it is a complex one. He is not a saint of the passive variety; he is a saint of righteous anger. His legacy is not one of non-violence (which he saw as insufficient against a brutal regime) but of fearless intellectual rebellion. the legend of bhagat singh
Despite massive public outcry, pleas for clemency from Mahatma Gandhi, and nationwide protests, the British government was terrified of this 23-year-old intellectual who had captured the imagination of millions. They advanced his execution date by 11 hours. On the evening of March 23, 1931, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev were led to the gallows in Lahore Central Jail. Legend has it that Bhagat Singh walked with a smile, a book by Lenin under his arm. He kissed the noose as if greeting an old friend. The trio embraced each other, shouting their last slogan: "Inquilab Zindabad!" (Long Live the Revolution). Bhagat Singh, a member of the Hindustan Socialist
His education was a blend of local school and the progressive National College in Lahore, where he was exposed to European revolutionary literature, anarchist thought, and the writings of Karl Marx, Lenin, and Bakunin. Unlike the moderate, petition-seeking leaders of the Congress, young Bhagat Singh was drawn to the philosophy of violence as a necessary tool for political awakening. The turning point came in 1928. The Simon Commission, an all-British team with no Indian members, arrived in India to discuss constitutional reforms. In Lahore, a massive protest was led by the legendary leader Lala Lajpat Rai. The police, under Superintendent James A. Scott, brutally lathi-charged the crowd, fatally injuring Rai, who died a few weeks later, declaring, "The blows struck at me today will be the last nails in the coffin of British rule." Saunders on December 17, 1928