कर्नल फेर यांस विषप्रयोग केल्याबद्दलची चौकशी. ( १६३) त सोमल आहे असे त्यांस समजल्यावरून, कर्नल फेर यांच्या विनंतीवरून त्यांनी त्या बद्दल आपला लेखी अभिप्राय दिला. याप्रमाणे विषमयोगाची मूळारंभींची हकीगत आहे. 1 सदरीं लिहिलेल्या रिपोर्टात त्यांनी आपल्या नौकरलोकांत पुसतपास केल्या वरून. काय निष्पन्न झालें त्याविषयी लिहिले असून, त्या दुष्टकृत्यांत मल्हारराव महाराज यांचे अंग होते असा काही पुरावा त्यास मिळाला नसतांही, महाराज यांजवर त्यांनीं बळकट संशय घेतला. त्या संशयास जीं कारणे दाखविली आहेत, त्यांत कांहीं कांहीं फार विलक्षण असून पराकाष्ठेची वैरद्योतक आहेत. सबब त्याविषयींचा येथे विस्तारपूर्वक उल्लेख करणे जरूर झालें आहे.
- ते झणतात कीं, रेसिडेंसीच्या नोकर लोकांपैकी दोन किंवा त्यांहून अधिक :
लोकांनी मला विषप्रयोग करण्याचा प्रयत्न केला, यांत कांहीं संशय नाहीं. दुसरें, तें पातक शेवटास नेण्याकरितां निदान हियाची भुकटी आणि सोमल हे दोन पदार्थ उपयोगांत आणिले आहेत, यांतही संशय नाहीं. आणि ह्यावरून असें
- “ It will be seen that I have arrived at the following conclusions :-
“ First. That an undoubted attempt to poison me has been made by two or more persons of the Residency establishinent, who have no conceivable personal motives for the crime, and who utterly repudiate its commission. “ Secondly. That arsenic and diamond dust were at least two of the ingre- dients used to effect the crime in question, from which fact it appears clear that the household servant or servants under suspicion must have been supplied by some person of rank with the more costly of these ingredients. “ Thirdly. That this attempt on my life was made with the cognizance and con- nivance of His Highness the Maharaja, two of whose confidential servants have been conspiring for months passed with one of the Residency table servants who is now suspected of having been the main instrument in the recent attempt to poison me. 66 “ Fourthly. That all motive of private malice as opposed to political motive, is not only repudiated, but is under the circumstances stated entirely out of the question. Fifthly. Judging from my own experience of the Durbar Police and Judicial administration, supported by the opinion, of the Com- mission, I believe that so long as His Highness Mulhar- rao remains in power at Baroda, there is no reasonable hope of further evidence that may lead to the detection of the real instigator of the crime being obtained, it being a fact, notwithstanding the Durbar professions expressed in Appendix C, that in addition to the persons now actually in custody there are three confidential servants of IIis Highness who are strongly suspected by me of complicity in the of it. Of these three persons within the last two or "three days been sent to the Decean, professedly to Akulkote, to visit a saint in that neighbourhood. Another died sud- denly the day before yesterday, it is alleged, by poison, as he was likely to have prored an inconvenient witness; and the third, the Arab sowar Salam, it is publicly rumoured, has just obtained leave of absence to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca; This last however wants conformation, " (Baroda Blue Book No. 6 Page 6). commission one has Vide appendix A. of the Commission report, Sehe- dule I, case 4., Para- graph 12. No. I. – Yeshwantrao Yeola. No. II. - Mahadevrao Kale. No. III. - Arab Salam. sowar
