The plan was to kill the Deputy Commissioner of Police Scott who had ordered the lathi charge. For this mission Azad, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Shiv Ram and Jaigopal were selected.
Jaigopal spied on Scott and noted down his daily routine and the routes he used in the course of his duty. Based on his report action plan was finalised.
On 15th December, 1928 Jaidev reached the premises of the Home Department in which the police commissioners office was situated. He parked his bicycle by the side of the gate as if it had developed some defect and went inside.
Right infront of Home Department office was the boundary wall of the DAV college. Azad stood behind that wall along with Shiv Ram. They were supposed to provide cover to Bhagat Singh and Rajguru in escape after the killing of the targetted person.
At appointed time they all had taken positions in their respective places. But there had been a slight slip. Jaigopal was not shown the picture of Scott or given visual reference. He had mistaken Sanders to be the D.C.P. Scott. As Sanders came out on his motorcycle Jaigopal gave signal. Bhagat Singh and Rajguru ran towards the gate as Sanders emerged. Rajguru shot Sanders in the neck. He fell down dead with his motorcycle overturning. Bhagat Singh pumped more bullets in to the head and the chest of the fallen S.S.P., Sanders making sure of his death.
After accomplishing the task Bhagat Singh and Rajguru ran towards the compound of the D.A.V. college. A police constable started screaming who had witnessed the incident from a distance. Alerted by his screams a white Traffic Inspector and two constables ran after the killers.
Bhagat Singh turned back and fired at the Traffic Inspector. In an effort to evade the bullet the Traffic Inspector bent and fell down unbalanced. He was unhurt. The two policemen kept up the chase.
Azad came forward and asked the policemen to go back. He warned with his gun. A policemen ran away but the another ignored the warning.
Azad fired and shot him dead.
Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and others now safely went into the college hostel. From there they slipped away to a safe place through back door.
The smart escape
The shock of the killing of the Senior Superintendent of Police Sanders made the administration panicky and more repressive. The police was everywhere. The C.I.D. was taping information from its agents. On suspicion the police raided D.A.V. college and hostel to flush out the Sanders killers. But they found nothing there.
Meanwhile, a car reached Lahore railway Station. A Saheb in European dress alighted. After him a beautiful lady in her finery emerged. She was in attractive saree. They looked like an Anglo-Indian couple. The Saheb was carrying a baby in his arms and he had his felt hat tipped down. A peon followed them with their baggage and files.
The police was all over the platforms. The C.I.D. men were keeping an eye on everyone. Some suspected people were being searched. The police officer nodded at the Anglo-Indian Saheb and let them move on. The peon bought a coupe ticket and three boarded the 5 a.m. Howrah Mail. The train left Lahore for its destination.
The three were Bhagat Singh, Durga Bhabi and Rajguru. It was all an act to fool the police. At Amritsar Rajguru got down and took a different train to different destination while the other two continued the journey to Calcutta and kept on the husband-wife charade.
By the same train Azad and other revolutionaries also escaped. They enacted a different drama and gave a slip to the police successfully. Azad was in the guise of a Mathura Panda guru. The other militants were disguised as his disciple pandas. They all made a perfect Panda party. No police officer saw any reason to suspect them. They got away singing bhajans.
