Memorial for Bharat’s First Female Detective, Neera Arya, to be inaugurated on Jan 26

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 19th Jan. A memorial and library in honor of Neera Arya, a soldier in the Rani Jhansi Regiment of Azad Hind Fauj and the country’s first female spy, have been created in her birthplace and will be unveiled on January 26. Tejpal Singh Dhama and Madhu Dhama, litterateurs, created the Neera Arya Memorial and Library in the Khekra region of Girdharpur. It will be inaugurated by famed film director Chandraprakash Dwivedi of Chanakya fame, film producer Vishal Tyagi and MLA Yogesh Dhama. Sitakaur Devi’s statue has also been placed.

Litterateur Tejpal Singh Dhama announced that the memorial and library dedicated to the heroic fighter of Azad Hind Fauj, Veerangana Neera Arya, will be unveiled on January 26 at 12 p.m. The Neera Arya Memorial and Library has been erected in the Girdharpur belt of Khekra. Its building cost approximately Rs 70 lakh, which includes the cost of land. Along with the statue of Neera Arya, the statue of Sitkaur Devi has been placed here. A statue and a library have been created at the bottom of this two-story memorial, while the upper level will be used to teach free tailoring to disadvantaged girls.

Rare issues of historical publications were acquired

According to litterateur Madhu Dhama, the library houses not only social, religious, and historical volumes, but also literature-related publications and rare issues of dozens of historical magazines. There are also 16 such novels in the library, several of them contain incidents from Neera Arya’s life. In this collection, photos of all of Baghpat district’s more than 300 independence fighters and their contributions to the freedom movement are displayed in frames. In addition, this library houses numerous genuine handwritten letters from Gobind Ballabh Pant, Maithili Sharan Gupt, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Pandit Nehru, and Netaji Subhash. The library has proven to be valuable for students studying for competitive exams, as well as regular readers and researchers, because it houses a wide range of literature.

A film is being made about the life of Neera Arya

He revealed that a Bollywood film based on Neera Arya’s life is also in the works. Chandraprakash Dwivedi, the film’s director, is best known for directing and acting in the Chanakya television series. Upanishad Ganga was also a popular serial. Aside from it, he skillfully directed films such as Pinjar, Z Plus, Mohalla Assi, and Samrat Prithviraj. He was the creative producer for Ram Sethu and OMG 2. Vishal Tyagi, the producer of the Neera Arya film, requires no introduction in Bollywood.

Netaji gave her the name ‘Nagini’

Neera Arya was commonly known as the first lady spy of the Azad Hind Fauj. She was born on March 5, 1902, in Khekra Nagar, Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. Her father, Seth Chhajjumal, a businessman, promised that his children would have an education in Kolkata. Neera was drawn to the idea of national freedom from a young age, and she joined the Azad Hind Fauj’s Rani Jhansi Regiment.

Neera’s father quickly found a suitable match in British Army officer Srikant Jai Ranjan Das, who was serving as a CID Inspector in India at the time. Their disagreements began when they participated in various testaments and belonged to different parties. When Srikant learned about Neera’s membership with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s army, he began grilling her to find out where the leader was. When Neera went to meet Bose, Srikant followed her and started fire, also firing at Bose’s motorist. Neera, who apparently saw what was going to happen next, murdered Srikant by pecking him, thus sparing Bose. The British colonial administration sentenced Neera to prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Jail for this offense. Neera was persuaded that if she revealed information about the leaders, particularly Netaji, she would be allowed bail.

Her nationalism did not stop there. Neera had the fortitude to refuse to reveal information about the leaders of the freedom struggle. Despite all challenges, Neera stayed devoted to the motherland and rose to become the first female asset of the Azad Hind Fauj, a title and responsibility bestowed upon her by Bose himself. Netaji named her ‘Nagini’ since she murdered her husband. After Azad Hind Fauj’s surrender and the trial in Delhi’s Red Fort, all of the captive troops were released, but Neera Arya was sentenced to Kala Pani on charges of murdering her husband, where she was severely tortured.

Neera Arya died on July 26, 1998, at Osmania Hospital near Charminar, Hyderabad.