Pandit K. Santanam

Pandit K. Santanam (25 August 1885 – 30 August 1949) born in an Iyengar family in Kumbakonam, Madras Presidency was a barrister, politician, businessman and a freedom fighter. He was a close associate of Lala Lajpat Rai and co-founded the Lakshmi Insurance Company which later found its way into the Life Insurance Corporation. He played a key role in the telling the story of Jallianwala Bagh massacre to the nation—something that the government-appointed Hunter Commission had buried.

He was married to Krishna, daughter of Arya Samaj leader Pandit Atamram Vedi.

Early life Source: Santanam was orphaned early in his childhood. After completing his schooling in Kumbakonam, he graduated from Presidency College, Madras in 1904 with Honours in Economics, with a gold medal in Economics. In 1906, he went to England for higher education at the King's College, Cambridge and made an unsuccessful attempt at the Indian Civil Service (ICS) examination. He was offered a colonial post in the Audit Department which he declined. He soon moved into legal studies and was in 1910 called to the Bar from the Inner Temple. On his return to India in 1911, he chose Lahore as the center of his activities and legal practice.

Career After his return to Madras from England in 1911, he refused to perform expiation for crossing the sea. His anti-caste attitude did not go well with his family and society at large. Upon Lala Lajpat Rai's suggestion, he chose Lahore as the place to build his career. Lala Lajpat Rai as its chairman and Motilal Nehru as its director.

After the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Martial law was declared across Punjab. As the defence counsel in the case of Lala Harkishen Lal and others, he broke the police cordon which had been thrown around Punjab, and visited Simla to try for an impartial bench to handle the case. Hiding under the birth of a railway compartment occupied by an Englishman, Santanam reached Shimla, the summer capital of the Raj. Though his request for an impartial bench was rejected, he managed to inform Sir C. Sankaran Nair, a member of the Viceroy's Council, of the atrocities being committed under guise of martial law. For leaking the news from Punjab to the rest of the nation, Santanam came under strict police surveillance on his return to Lahore. The report was a model of meticulous documentation and its historic publication chronicled what was later termed by Gandhi to be the "last nail in the coffin of the British Empire."

Death He died at his residence in Delhi on 30 August 1949, at the age of 64.