# John P. Saunders
**John P. Saunders** was the European Assistant Superintendent of Police at Lahore, born on 24 July 1907 and educated at The King's (The [Cathedral](https://www.edgepedia.org/cathedral)) School in [Peterborough](https://www.edgepedia.org/peterborough) as a King's Scholar.[15](https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/262475/) • [4](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19281220.2.24.8) He was shot dead on 17 December 1928 by members of the HSRA, who mistook him for Superintendent James A. Scott, the intended target in retaliation for the death of [Lala Lajpat Rai](https://www.edgepedia.org/lala-lajpat-rai) following a police lathi charge in Lahore on 30 October 1928.[2](https://pmml.nic.in/downloadNmmlManuscripts) • [3](https://www.theindianpanorama.news/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/TIP-March-18-Dual-Edition.pdf) • [2](https://pmml.nic.in/downloadNmmlManuscripts) • [4](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19281220.2.24.8) The killing led to the Lahore Conspiracy Case, in which Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev Thapar, and Shivaram Rajguru were convicted and hanged in Lahore jail on 23 March 1931.[1](https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2014/May/06/bhagat-singh-case-worth-reinvestigating-pakistani-daily-608997.html) • [9](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/education/dav-admission-dhaba-dhobi-records-all-there-310624/) • [1](https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2014/May/06/bhagat-singh-case-worth-reinvestigating-pakistani-daily-608997.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Intended target | James A. Scott, Superintendent of Police of Lahore, blamed for the lathi charge that led to Lala Lajpat Rai's death on 17 November 1928[2](https://pmml.nic.in/downloadNmmlManuscripts) |
| Legal aftermath | The Lahore Conspiracy Case ended with Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru hanged in Lahore jail on 23 March 1931[1](https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2014/May/06/bhagat-singh-case-worth-reinvestigating-pakistani-daily-608997.html) |
## Early life and police career
Saunders was born on 24 July 1907 and attended The King's (The Cathedral) School in Peterborough as a King's Scholar.[15](https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/262475/)
## The assassination
The attack arose from the death of Lala Lajpat Rai, a nationalist leader who was injured in a police lathi charge ordered by Superintendent James A. Scott during protests against the all-British [Simon Commission](https://www.edgepedia.org/simon-commission) in Lahore on 30 October 1928, and who died of his injuries on 17 November 1928.[2](https://pmml.nic.in/downloadNmmlManuscripts) • [3](https://www.theindianpanorama.news/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/TIP-March-18-Dual-Edition.pdf) The HSRA resolved to kill Scott in retaliation.[2](https://pmml.nic.in/downloadNmmlManuscripts)
At around 4 pm on 17 December 1928, exactly a month after Rai's death, Saunders left the District Police Headquarters with Head Constable Chanan Singh and headed for his motorbike. Conspirators signaled [Bhagat Singh](https://www.edgepedia.org/bhagat-singh) to shoot on the appearance of Saunders, whom they mistook for Scott. The killers escaped; contemporary reporting noted eight arrests in connection with the Lahore murder within a day, and that the assailants disappeared into a nearby Hindu college and escaped by another entrance.[4](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19281220.2.24.8)
The mistaken identity did not prevent the HSRA from claiming retribution.
## Investigation and the Lahore Conspiracy Case
The murder remained a mystery to the Punjab Police until the Assembly bombing of 8 April 1929 in Delhi, when Bhagat Singh and [Batukeshwar Dutt](https://www.edgepedia.org/batukeshwar-dutt) courted arrest; police then connected the cases, partly through the similarity of handwriting on leaflets thrown in the Assembly and those posted in Lahore after the Saunders killing.[2](https://pmml.nic.in/downloadNmmlManuscripts) • [5](https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/bhagat-singh-lahore-imtiaz-rashid-qureshi-pakistan-1054307-2017-09-28) The prosecution case rested substantially on approvers, former HSRA members who testified in exchange for pardon.[6](https://sukhdevthapar.com/trial/)
The first information report in the murder was registered at the Anarkali police station in Lahore on 17 December 1928 at 4:30 pm, written in Urdu, against two unidentified gunmen for the murder of Saunders and Head Constable Chanan Singh; it did not name any suspect.[7](https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/this-pakistani-advocate-has-been-trying-to-make-the-british-pay-for-hanging-bhagat-singh-3694541.html/amp) • [8](https://epaper.navhindtimes.in/PageImages/pdf/NAVHINDTIMEPDFMERGER/Merged/13092017-md-ga-all.pdf) The Lahore police located and released a copy of this FIR in 2014 on the order of the Lahore High Court, in proceedings brought by the Pakistani lawyer Imtiaz Rasheed Qureshi seeking to reopen the case.[1](https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2014/May/06/bhagat-singh-case-worth-reinvestigating-pakistani-daily-608997.html)
A special tribunal constituted under an ordinance tried the accused from May 1930; it found Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru guilty of participation in the Saunders murder, and the three were hanged in Lahore jail on 23 March 1931.[9](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/education/dav-admission-dhaba-dhobi-records-all-there-310624/) • [1](https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2014/May/06/bhagat-singh-case-worth-reinvestigating-pakistani-daily-608997.html) The case file, held by the Punjab Archives at the Tomb of Anarkali in Lahore, was put on public display for the first time in March 2018, including Saunders's post-mortem report and Bhagat Singh's execution certificate.[10](https://www.dawn.com/news/1397960) • [11](https://theprint.in/opinion/lahore-archives-bhagat-singh-treasure-on-display-letters-book-scribbles-a-hat-receipt/45443/)
## Records and discrepancies
Most accounts date the shooting to 17 December 1928, and the contemporary *Evening Star* report of 20 December 1928 confirms the murder of "Mr J. P. Saunders, aged twenty-one, the European Assistant Superintendent of Police at Lahore" while he was leaving his office.[4](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19281220.2.24.8) A minority of later retellings give different years: one NewsClick report dates the shooting to 17 December 1927,[12](https://static.112.152.108.65.clients.your-server.de/Letters-Bhagat-Singh-Lahore-Conspiracy-Case-Trial) and a Dawn report places it in December 1929.[13](https://www.dawn.com/news/1397297/code.jquery.com) The contemporary press and the 1928 FIR support 17 December 1928.
The physical evidence from the case also has a documented afterlife. The tribunal's 825 exhibits, including the pistol used in the killing, were handed to a CID officer in October 1930, and archival files suggest the weapons may be held either at [Lahore Fort](https://www.edgepedia.org/lahore-fort) or at the Punjab Police Academy at Phillaur.[14](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/community/where-are-lahore-case-exhibits-312173/)
## References
1. [Bhagat Singh Case Worth Reinvestigating: Pakistani Daily, The New Indian Express (2014)](https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2014/May/06/bhagat-singh-case-worth-reinvestigating-pakistani-daily-608997.html)
2. [Institutional Collections 61, Prime Minister's Museum and Library](https://pmml.nic.in/downloadNmmlManuscripts)
3. [The Indian Panorama, March 18, 2022 edition](https://www.theindianpanorama.news/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/TIP-March-18-Dual-Edition.pdf)
4. [PEACE OFFICIAL'S DEATH, Evening Star, 20 December 1928, Papers Past](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19281220.2.24.8)
5. [Was Bhagat Singh wrongly convicted and hanged against provisions of law?, India Today (2017)](https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/bhagat-singh-lahore-imtiaz-rashid-qureshi-pakistan-1054307-2017-09-28)
6. [The Lahore Conspiracy Case: Arrest, Trial & Sentence, Sukhdev Thapar archive](https://sukhdevthapar.com/trial/)
7. [This Pakistani advocate has been trying to make the British pay for hanging Bhagat Singh, Moneycontrol (2019)](https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/this-pakistani-advocate-has-been-trying-to-make-the-british-pay-for-hanging-bhagat-singh-3694541.html/amp)
8. [The Navhind Times, September 13, 2017](https://epaper.navhindtimes.in/PageImages/pdf/NAVHINDTIMEPDFMERGER/Merged/13092017-md-ga-all.pdf)
9. [DAV admission, dhaba, dhobi records, all there, The Tribune (2016)](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/education/dav-admission-dhaba-dhobi-records-all-there-310624/)
10. [Exhibition of Bhagat Singh's trial case file opens, Dawn (2018)](https://www.dawn.com/news/1397960)
11. [Lahore archive's Bhagat Singh treasure on display, ThePrint (2018)](https://theprint.in/opinion/lahore-archives-bhagat-singh-treasure-on-display-letters-book-scribbles-a-hat-receipt/45443/)
12. [Letters by Bhagat Singh from the Lahore Conspiracy Case Trial, NewsClick (2020)](https://static.112.152.108.65.clients.your-server.de/Letters-Bhagat-Singh-Lahore-Conspiracy-Case-Trial)
13. [Archives of Bhagat Singh case trial to be exhibited, Dawn (2018)](https://www.dawn.com/news/1397297/code.jquery.com)
14. [Where are Lahore case exhibits?, The Tribune (2016)](https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/archive/community/where-are-lahore-case-exhibits-312173/)
15. [John Poyntz Saunders memorial, War Memorials Online](https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/262475/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Conflict and security › Military and security biographies › Police, law-enforcement, and security officers › International law enforcement officers*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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