Nana Sahib
Nana Sahib was the adopted son of Peshwar Baji Rao II (donno if its the same guy from the ridiculous movie which glorified infidelity) from a not-so-great time in Indian history i.e the British Rule. Peshwar just lost the third maratha war and was super bummed about the fact that he had to "maintain" the province of Kanpur with the pocket money that British provide. Adding to his disappointment Lord Dalhouise had just introduced 'Doctrine of Lapse' which was a fancy British accent way of saying "If you croak before you have a son or do anything other than what we say, your kingdom will be ours bitch". So when finally Peshwar said goodbye to the world, the British not only refused to give his pension but also disapproved Nana Sahib's rise to throne in Kanpur. This obviously pissed people off and led to the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
The rebellion went great for the first couple of months. Nana Sahib and troops successfully took over the British treasury in Kanpur( then known as Cownpore) then closed in on the East India Company's entrenchment maintained by General Wheeler. After starving and getting sunburned for almost 20 days in the entrenchment, General Wheeler agreed to surrender if promised a save passage to Allahabad. This was a huge moment for every sepoy present there as it coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Plassey. So, the deal was signed and General Wheeler walked out of the entrenchment with the remaining of his European friends and headed down to the Satichaura Ghat where they planned on taking boats to Allahabad. But 'accidental' rifle fire broke out from the angry sepoys as soon the the boats started to drift. There is always that one guy with twitchy trigger fingers who ruins things for all of us, right? No one knows till this date if this was a carefully planned massacre or adrenaline filled confusion.The gathering around the lake consisted of escaped soldiers who witnessed their entire families being killed by the Company's troops.
Anyhow coming back to our boat ride gone wild, all the remaining men including Wheeler were executed after properly saying required prayers because it was as God intended, and around 200 women and children were taken captive with an idea of using them as hostage in future negotiations. But this did not sit well with the big dogs waiting for Wheeler in Allahabad. They sent troops to recapture Kanpur even though it meant killing everything that moves. General Havelock who was in charge of this force, defeated the armies of Nana Sahib at every check point resulting in massive bone breaking on both sides. Finally it became clear that all negotiations have failed and Kanpur will be recaptured. Not knowing what to do with the hostages, Nana Sahib 'allegedly' ordered the Indian soldiers to shoot them. After multiple attempts to persuade him not to kill women and children the soldiers finally gave in and shot the captives through the holes in the boarded windows. Nana Sahib reportedly threatened his soldiers with the 'Do or Die' policy but left the building not wanting to witness the massacre. Weird, right?. Then the dead/injured were thrown into a dry well just like in Murder 2 folks. Knowing this Havelock retaliated with wiping off entire villages and setting them on fire in his way. When the Company finally marched into Kanpur, Nana Sahib fled his Palace leaving everything as it is. Havelock occupied it with zero resistance.
Nana Sahib was assumed to have fled to Nepal. A lot of people claim to have met him in the interior parts of Nepal. Many prison enthusiasts have turned themselves in to the British claiming to be aged Sahib in the following years. Though many written authentic accounts of Nana's death were discovered none were confirmed till date. His fate still remains a mystery.
