Enclosures of letter to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for India, No.11, dated 15 January 1875: Nos. 3 to 45 of Abstract of Contents, from the Officiating Under-Secretary to the Government of India, Fort William [‎85v] (70/100)

Srdly. —Inability on the part of the Police to take immediate action in
consequence of the Earoda city being foreign territory.
Uhly. —The great fear that people had in coming forward with information.
Wily. —The extraordinary efforts used, and enormous sums of money
available to remove all evidence and to destroy every clue likely to lead to the
detection of the persons who attempted this daring crime.
7. It was impossible for the detectives themselves to go into, and about
the city of Baroda without exciting suspicion, and their movements and actions
being closely watched, they were obliged to work almost entirely by means of
agents, through whom much useful information was obtained, but nothing of a
tangible nature came to light until the 16th December, on which day the
detectives succeeded in getting hold of the driver of a hack bullock shigram
in the Camp Bazaar, who, it was ascertained, had on one occasion driven an
ayah, at the time in service at the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. , to the Gaekwar's llavelee or
Palace at a late hour of night: this I may say was the first useful clue the
detectives were able to obtain, and their exertions now assumed a definite
direction.
8. The shigram driver Dawood was at once brought before me, and after
carefully questioning him, feeling satisfied of the correctness of his statement
I took down his deposition recorded in the Appendix and lettered A.
9. It will be seen by reference to this statement that the ayah's husband
Sheikh Abdoolla was said to have orderd the shigram in the first* instance, and
that her servant boy Chotoo accompanied her to the Gaek war's palace.
10. With this information I caused the boy Chotoo and the husband
Sheikh Abdoolla to be immediately taken up and brought to me separately, the
boy at once admitted that he had gone at night with the ayah to the Maha
raja King 's palace, and the husband also after some hesitation corroborated the
statements of both the cart-driver Dawood, and the boy Chotoo. The deposi
tions of Chotoo and Sheik Abdoolla are recorded in the Appendix and lettered
B and D.
11. The ayah who had formerly been for some time iu the service of Mrs.
Phayre, wife of the late Resident, was now employed by that lady's daughter,
Mrs. Boevey. I found however thMt she was then suffering from fever and was
confined to her bed; the house where she lived was some little distance from
the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. where as you know my enquiries have been conducted. I there
fore arranged that the husband and boy should be detained separately at the
Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. while I went personally to examine the ayah with regard to the
accuracy of the statements already made.
12. Upon arriving at the ayah's house I had some conversation with
her during which she most reluctantly admitted that she had been induced
to visit the Gaekwar on three occasions. In consequence, however, of the avah
being so unwell I was unwilling to put her to any unnecessary trouble, and there-
tore I took the precaution to place a Police Guard over her house, so that she
should have no communication with anybody, and on the 18th I took down the
first part of her statement. She was then removed to hospital, and on the 19th
the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Surgeon, Dr. Seward, who was attending her, called at the Resi
dency and informed me that she had expressed a wish to see me as she had
something further to say. I accordingly visited the hospital the following
morning when the ayah voluntarily made the very important additional state
ment regarding the poison which I took down at the hospital on the 21st.
The ayah s two statements of the 18th and 21st December are shown in the
Appendix lettered C.
13. AV ben the ayah made her first statement on the 16th December I
caused her house to be guarded, thinking it possible that some documentarv
evidence might be obtained. Upon search being made amongst other papers
discovered in her box under lock and key, were four important letters attached
m original to this report and numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. Letters Nos 1 and 2
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