Remembering Mahatma Gandhi | 5 facts about January 30, the last day of Bapu's life

On this day in 1948, three shots violently ended the most glorious chapter of modern India. ‘Light has gone out of our lives,’ India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had announced to the world during his emotional speech. 

Bapu’s assassination sent shockwaves across the globe, with tributes pouring from many world leaders. While many called him ‘saint’ and ‘a giant among men’, others said that he was simply ‘irreplaceable.’

Mahatma Gandhi, father of nation, was assassinated on January 30, 1948 in the lawns of Delhi’s Birla House. As India remembers his martyrdom, DNA brings you the details of that fateful day:

1: Mahatma Gandhi was shot at point-blank range by Nathuram Godse at Delhi’ Birla House, while Bapu was coming out in the lawn for the evening prayers.

2: Godse fired three bullets in Mahatma Gandhi’s chest. The bullets were lodged in Bapu's chest, stomach and groin. He was carried inside the Birla House from the lawns and died half an hour later, at around 5.40 pm.

3: Godse, who belonged to Pune, tried to kill himself with the fourth bullet, but was caught by a Royal Indian Force soldier standing next to him. The crowd gathered at the Birla House started thrashing him. With much difficulty, the police saved him and took him to a nearby police station.

4: Godse, who reportedly said that he was not sorry for what he did, used a 38 calibre Biretta of Italian manufacture for the dastardly act.

5: The news of Bapu’s assassination was announced by the All India Radio at 6 pm. Godse and co-conspirator Narayan Apte were hanged for the murder of the Father of the Nation on November 15, 1949.