A Hindu nationalist shot Mahatma Gandhi three times in the chest and abdomen from a distance of only about 20 centimeters.
On this day Mahatma Gandhi was murdered in New Delhi. This was done by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, who shot him with a 38 mm Beretta pistol.
The assassination occurred while Gandhi was on his way to the stage from which he was going to address a prayer meeting. Godse approached him as if he was about to greet him. A girl flanking Gandhi told Godse that Gandhi is already late for the prayer and tried to put him off. Godse bowed to Gandhi, pushed the girl away, and shot him three times in the chest and abdomen at point-blank range.
The assailant didn’t try to escape or attack anyone else but allowed the crowd to overpower him and throw him to the ground. He was arrested after that. He assassinated Gandhi because he strongly opposed his nonviolence policy, especially towards Muslims in Pakistan.
Godse believed that Gandhi’s insistence on nonviolence would stop the Hindus from defending themselves from other nations and religions. Gandhi was ceremonially cremated and his ashes was placed in number of urns were sent across the world and are today, in some places, worshiped in shrines.
