Chapekar brothers

The Chapekar Brothers, Damodar Hari Chapekar (25 June 1869 – 18 April 1898), Balkrishna Hari Chapekar (1873 – 12 May 1899, also called Bapurao) and Vasudeo Hari Chapekar (1880 – 8 May 1899), also spelt Wasudeva or Wasudev, were Indian revolutionaries involved in assassinating W. C. Rand, the British Plague Commissioner of Poona, after the public of Poona were frustrated with theactions of officers and soldiers appointed by him. Mahadev Vinayak Ranade was also an accomplice in the assassination.

The Chapekar brothers came from Chapa, a small hamlet in the city of Poona, British India. When the bubonic plague hit India in 1896–97, the government had set up a Special Plague Committee for managing the pandemic, with Walter Charles Rand, an Indian Civil Services officer, as its Commissioner. Over 800 soldiers were brought in to deal with the emergency. Despite orders from the government to pay heed to religious sentiments, the measures employed included entry into private houses, stripping and examination of occupants (including women) by British officers in public, evacuation to hospitals and segregation camps and preventing movement from the city. Some of these officers also vandalised properties and religious symbols. These measures were considered oppressive by the populace of Poona but their complaints were ignored by Rand. Thus, the Chapekar brothers shot Rand and his military escort, Lieutenant Ayerst, on 22 June 1897, the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria, as the British officials were returning from the celebrations at Government House. Ayerst died on the spot and Rand of his wounds on 3 July.

The Chapekar brothers and two accomplices (Mahadev Ranade and Shathe [First-name not known]) were charged with the murders in various roles, as well as the shooting of two informants and an attempt to shoot a police officer. All three brothers were found guilty and hanged, an accomplice was dealt with similarly, and another, then a schoolboy, was sentenced to ten years' rigorous imprisonment.