Story of Gobind Ram and the Hindustan Commercial Bank established in 1805.
The area where this building is located is the junction of Shah Almi and Rang Mehal Chowk. This was a Hindu populated area and most of the trade and businesses were owned by the Hindus.
The Hindu community area was finally set on fire and so was the giant gate. Petrol bombs were placed in the drainage pipes and whole area was blown out. The point of riots was the junction of Lohari and Shah Almi Gates. Hindu and Sikh processions in Chowk Matti were also targeted. It seemed as if everyone was a butcher. There was open stabbing on the streets during processions and brick throwing from the high rise rooftops of the nearby havelis and houses.
The leaders were upset on the riots and Lahore was burning into ashes. Shah Almi gate fire flames went on for days. Finally the Shah Almi Gate collapsed – it was burned to ashes, which was the biggest trading centre owned by Hindus. Millions of goods and property was destroyed. Almost all that area was destroyed and turned into ashes – the ashes of bricks, mortar and human bodies were all around the city.
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They came back and confirmed that the Magistrate Cheema had used the police force in his charge to prevent people from escaping from their burning homes. This information filled all of us with great anger. Rajinder Singh felt that what Cheema had done was no different from what Saunders was guilty of. And since Cheema had acted like a state protected terrorist, he had to be taught a lesson in precisely the way Rajinder's brother Bhagat Singh had taught a lesson to the state sponsored terrorists in the late 1920s. If Cheema were killed, others in the government would understand that somehow, they too would be punished for their misdeeds.
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