In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and his comrades shot dead a British police officer in Lahore, mistaking him for Superintendent James Scott, who was blamed for the lathi charge on Lala Lajpat Rai. The officer killed was:

Saunders. On 17 December 1928, Bhagat Singh and Shivaram Rajguru shot dead John P. Saunders, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, in Lahore, mistaking him for the Superintendent of Police, James A. Scott.

Background:

• In October 1928, when the Simon Commission came to Lahore, a huge protest procession was led by Lala Lajpat Rai.
• The police, on the orders of James Scott, carried out a brutal lathi charge on the protesters; Lajpat Rai was badly injured.
• Lajpat Rai died on 17 November 1928; many believed that his death was caused by his injuries.
• The young revolutionaries decided to avenge his death by killing Scott.

The killing:

• Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev and Chandrashekhar Azad planned the action.
• Jai Gopal, who was to identify Scott, mistook Saunders for Scott.
• As Saunders came out of the police office on his motorcycle, Rajguru and Bhagat Singh shot him.
• A head constable, Chanan Singh, who chased them, was shot by Azad.

After the killing:

• The revolutionaries put up posters claiming responsibility, saying that they had avenged the death of Lajpat Rai.
• Bhagat Singh escaped from Lahore in disguise, travelling with Durgawati Devi (Durga Bhabhi), the wife of Bhagwati Charan Vohra, posing as her husband.

The trial:

• Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were tried in the Lahore Conspiracy Case for the killing.
• They were sentenced to death by a special tribunal.
• Their execution led to widespread grief and anger in India.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Michael O'Dwyer was shot in London.
• ✗Douglas Kingsford was the target of a bomb in Muzaffarpur.
• ✗Charles Tegart was a police officer in Bengal.