The commission took serious note of the mahant’s speech and also the fact that in the meeting, shouts of ‘long live Madanlal’ were raised, besides other slogans, hailing Madanlal Pahwa, a youth from Punjab and an active member of the Hindu Mahasabha, who had made a failed attempt to kill Gandhi just seven days back, on 20 January 1948. Pahwa had accidentally ignited the guncotton slab 75 feet away from the spot where the Mahatma was addressing a prayer meeting. The commission observed that not only should this have been brought immediately to the notice of the government, but that the meeting
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