Supati Roy

Supati Roy
Supati Roychowdhury
Born	1906 Bijoynagar Upazila, Bengal, British Raj
Died	11 December 1968 Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Other names	Supati Roychowdhury
Alma mater	Dhaka University
Known for	active member of Bengal Volunteers and later the Forward Bloc
Father	Ramgobinda Roy

Supati Roy Chowdhury also known as Supati Roy (Bengali: সুপতি রায়) (1906–1968) was an Indian revolutionary associated with the Mukti Sangha and later the Bengal Volunteers. A native of Bijoynagar, Comilla District, he became involved in anti-colonial activities as a student and graduated from Dhaka University in 1929. Known for his strategic planning, Roy aided Benoy Basu’s escape after the assassination of the Inspector General of police Mr. Lowman and played a key role in multiple revolutionary operations, including the Writers’ Buildings attack and a major sabotage of telegraph lines in Bengal. Imprisoned from 1933 to 1938, he later organised resistance in Tripura and joined the Forward Bloc, opposing Partition until his 1940 arrest.

Early life

Supati Roy was born in Bijoynagar Upazila, Comilla (then part of the Bengal Presidency), to Ramgobinda Roy, who was employed on the Cox's Bazar Estate and later settled with his family in Dhaka.

While still a school student, Roy became involved in revolutionary activities by joining the Mukti Sangha, an underground organisation led by Hemchandra Ghosh. He later graduated in B.A. from University of Dhaka in 1929, after which he became fully engaged in the activities of the revolutionary secret societies operating against British Raj.

Revolutionary Activities

Role in the Bengal Volunteers and Early Operations

Supati Roy became a leading member of the Bengal Volunteers, a revolutionary organisation. Supati was active in the Dhaka regional branch. He was in charge of the party's Dhaka operations and was a close associate of Rasamoy Sur, who led the group’s Action Squad. Roy played a key role in organizing and supplying arms for the assassination of British Police Inspector General Lowman, considered the first major operation by the Bengal Volunteers.

Escape with Benoy Bose and Cross-Border Evasion

Following the Lowman assassination, Roy aided Benoy Basu in evading capture. Disguised as rural peasants, they navigated through monsoon-flooded terrain and hostile terrain to escape a large-scale police manhunt. From Dhaka to Narayanganj, Bhairab, and across the Meghna River, their journey was marked by improvised disguises, deception, and survival under dire conditions. At Kishoreganj and Munshiganj, they narrowly escaped police scrutiny through strategic ruses, eventually reaching Kolkata via Sirajganj and Jagannath Ghat.

Later revolutionary activities

Involvement in High-Profile Revolutionary Plots

From the assassination of Police I.G. Lowman in Dhaka to the Writers' Building encounter on 8 December 1930—during which Bengal Prisons I.G. Colonel N.S. Simpson was killed by Benoy Basu, Badal Gupta, and Dinesh Gupta—Roy was closely associated with the planning and coordination of each major operation. He was also involved in strategising the attempted assassination of the Governor of Bengal, Sir John Anderson, in Darjeeling, an attack carried out by Bhabani Bhattacharya.

Operation to Disrupt Telegraphic Communication

In 1930, when the Dhaka units of the Mukti Sangha and Bengal Volunteers adopted a broader strategy to sever British administrative control, a plan was devised to disable telegraphic communication lines across Bengal. Roy was appointed leader of a five-member team tasked with executing this sabotage operation. The initiative was part of a larger wave of coordinated revolutionary acts aimed at paralysing the colonial infrastructure.

Arrest and Detention

After the Writers' Building incident and the intensification of colonial crackdowns on revolutionary cells, Roy took refuge at a party safe house on Park Street in Kolkata. On 13 February 1933, he was arrested at the residence of co-revolutionary Prafulla Dutta at 6 Nimchand Moitra Lane in Baranagar. Though no concrete evidence was presented against him, he was detained under the Bengal Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1930, a law that allowed preventive detention without trial. He remained imprisoned in various detention camps across British India for an extended period.

Supati Roy after arrest

Later Life and Legacy

After his release in 1938, Supati Roy relocated to the princely state of Tripura, where he worked to establish a unit of the Bengal Volunteers. He later joined the Forward Bloc, a political party founded by Subhas Chandra Bose following his departure from the Indian National Congress.

On 12 April 1940, Roy was arrested from the Forward Bloc's Dhaka office by British authorities, largely due to his continued revolutionary activities and vocal opposition to colonial policies, particularly the growing discourse around the partition of India. He was imprisoned once again and spent five more years in jail, until his release in 1946.

Following his release, he actively participated in the anti-partition movement, aligning with political forces resisting the proposed division of Bengal and the Indian subcontinent. His later years remained dedicated to political activism and organisational work.

Death

Supati Roy died on 11 December 1968. His contributions to India's revolutionary struggle and his post-prison political involvement remain part of the legacy of Bengal’s nationalist history.

Bibliography

• Hemendranath Dasgupta, Bharater Biplab Kahini, II & III, Calcutta, 1948;
• Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, History of the Freedom Movement in India, III, Calcutta 1963;
• Ganganarayan Chandra, Abismaraniya, Calcutta, 1966.