Sri Aurobindo Ghosh was arrested in 1908 and tried, but acquitted, in which famous case?

Sri Aurobindo Ghosh was arrested in May 1908 and tried in the Alipore Bomb Case (also called the Maniktala Bomb Conspiracy or Muraripukur conspiracy), but he was acquitted in 1909.

Background:

• After the attempted assassination of a British magistrate in Muzaffarpur in April 1908, the police raided the revolutionaries' centre at the garden house in Maniktala (Muraripukur), Calcutta.
• They found bombs, explosives and weapons, and arrested many young revolutionaries.

The trial:

About 38 persons were tried, including Aurobindo Ghosh, his brother Barindra Kumar Ghosh, Ullaskar Dutt, Hem Chandra Kanungo and others.

The trial was held at the Alipore Sessions Court in Calcutta, before Judge C. P. Beachcroft, who had been Aurobindo's classmate at Cambridge.

Aurobindo was defended by Chittaranjan Das, whose brilliant defence won him fame.

Aurobindo was acquitted in May 1909, for lack of evidence.

Barindra Kumar Ghosh and Ullaskar Dutt were sentenced to death, but their sentences were later reduced to transportation for life; they were sent to the Andaman Islands.

During the trial, Narendranath Goswami, a member who turned approver (informer), was shot dead inside the Alipore jail by two other accused revolutionaries, who were later hanged.

Aurobindo's spiritual turn:

• During his year in Alipore jail, Aurobindo had deep spiritual experiences.
• After his release, he gradually withdrew from politics, and in 1910 he went to Pondicherry (then a French territory), where he devoted himself to yoga and spiritual work.
• He founded the Sri Aurobindo Ashram at Pondicherry.

About Sri Aurobindo:

• He was born on 15 August 1872 in Calcutta.
• He edited the nationalist paper "Bande Mataram" and was a leading Extremist.

Why not the other options?

• ✗The Kakori, Meerut and Lahore cases involved other revolutionaries.