Chapter 90 - Creating Approvers

The reason the British were able to crack the case against Savarkar was because of approvers.

But where did these people come from? How did they decide to collaborate with the British against their own compatriots?

The answer seems to have been torture, that the authorities in India could do with impunity, because the law gave the authorities all-encompassing powers, with few if any checks and balances.

Somehow, Savarkar’s own writing is sparse on the excesses in Indian prisons.

Most of what I’ve written in this chapter is imagined based on my copious consumption of Indian movies.

Creating Approvers

In a seedy interrogation chamber of the Byculla jail, Koregaonkar found himself tied to a chair under a single bulb, its glare harsh and lonely in the dark interrogation cell. The air smelled of sweat and damp stone. A potbellied inspector sat across from him, flanked by a constable, with a stenographer scribbling in the corner.

His drop of guns and books had gone well. He had sent back the all-clear signal, and relaxed at home and spent time with friends and family before he was to start as an engineer in Mysore. And then, they had suddenly swooped in on him and picked him up.

“Well, Harishchandra,” Inspector Amble said, tapping his cane lightly against the floor, “I hope, like your namesake, you tell the truth this time.”

Koregaonkar said nothing. His jaw hung at an odd angle from the last round of questioning—dislocated, he thought—and speaking was agony. But more than that, he didn’t want to talk to them. The moment he spoke, they’d get him twisted in word games.

Give them nothing. He repeated it in his head, like a mantra.