Hindu – German Conspiracy Trial The Hindu – German Conspiracy Trial commenced in the District Court in San Francisco on November 12 , 1917 following the uncovering of the : Hindu – German Conspiracy ( also known as the Indo German plot ) for initiating a revolt in India . It was part of a wave of such incidents which took place in the United States after America ' s entrance into World War I . In May 1917 , eight Indian nationalists of the Ghadar Party were indicted by a federal grand jury on a charge of conspiracy to form a military enterprise against the United Kingdom . The trial lasted from November 20 , 1917 to April 24 , 1918 . The British authorities hoped that the conviction of the Indians would result in their deportation from the United States back to India . However , strong public support in favor of the Indians meant that the U . S . Department of Justice chose not to do so . Background . From 1915 to 1917 , the British government repeatedly requested that the United States government suppress the activities of Ghadar Party in the USA . However , these requests were turned down , as nothing in U . S . law prevented the Indians from seeking to overthrow the British government . Shortly before the outbreak of World War I , the Ghadar intellectual , Lala Hardayal , was arrested for anarchist activities and left the U . S . before he could be deported . With other Indian Nationalists in Europe , he enlisted the aid of Germany , who believed supporting a revolt in India would weaken the United Kingdom . In 1915 , Germany offered the Indian Nationalists financial aid for transporting arms and Indians back to India via the United States . The British government claimed that the United States was violating its neutrality with Britain by allowing Germany to conspire with the Indians on American soil . The first of several arrests of the Indian Nationalists were made in the Spring of 1917 with one hundred and five people of various nationalities being arrested . Eventually , thirty - five were tried for conspiracy , including nine Germans , nine Americans , and seventeen Indians . During the war , nativists in the United States were expressing hostility toward certain minority groups , especially radicals and recent immigrants viewing anything un - American with suspicion . By 1917 , Germans were the object of much of the American nativistic fervor . Fear of German subversion and conspiracies ran rampant throughout the U . S . after the Black Tom explosion and the Kingsland Explosion , both suspected to have been caused by German agents . Thus by being linked to Germany in a conspiracy , the Indian Nationalists should have been the recipients of the same hostility . Although calls for their deportation were made by government officials after the Hindu - German conspiracy trial , none of the Indian Nationalists were deported . The arrests . The arrests started in March 1917 , with Chandra Kanta Chakraverty " a thin - faced , falsetto - voiced Hindu , a native of Bengal , and a speaker of many languages " , and the German , Ernest Sekunna , being arrested on charges of conspiracy . Most of the others were arrested on April 8 , including Franz Bopp , the German Consul General for San Francisco , E . H . von Schack and Deus Dekker and William von Brincken . The Indian Nationalists were accused of taking " advantage of American neutrality to plot on American soil against the allies " at " the expense of the laws and hospitality of the United States " . The two men had also taken out trade names to do business as " The Oriental Society " , " The Oriental Kitchen " , and the " Oriental Review " , and purchased of land in an isolated part of New York State . The trial . The Hindu German conspiracy trial started in San Francisco on November 20 , 1917 . Despite attempts to focus on the machinations of the German agents , the Indians presented their position in terms of the ideals of the American Revolution . As the trial started , Jodh Singh , an Indian " whose testimony sent nine men , including his brothers to their death and condemned a score to life imprisonment in the Far East , " pleaded with the court for an American square deal . The British had brought Singh to the United States to testify against his fellow Indian Nationalists . He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges and was to be a government witness in this trial . But when he took the witness stand , he suddenly refused to testify . He asked to change his plea to stand trial with his " brothers " in an American court . The judge refused his request . The " San Francisco Chronicle " described the courtroom during the testimony of one of the Government witnesses : The Indians were placed into custody for the reminder of the trial following claims that they had been harassing witnesses by following them and attempting to bribe them . When Dr . Chakraverty ' s extensive confession was delivered , " the diminutive Hindoo was the target for dark glances from this fellow defendants , the subject of excited whisperings and the recipient of several notes from the Hindoos . " One of the defendants even stuffed a wad of paper down Chakraverty ' s neck . To these notes and " to the dark scowls of his countrymen , Chakraverty responded with a broad grin . " Chakraverty was followed by several of the Hindu defendants when he left court . A woman who gave evidence in the trial described how she had met two of the Ghadar activists , Taraknath Das and Lala Hardayal , when all three were at Stanford University . One wanted to " transform her into a modern Joan of Arc , leading the Indians in intrigue against the British . " The other wished to " inspire her to be an idealist and a teacher in India . " Evidence was also produced of money paid to two American women by HarDayal in an attempt to " lure women to Europe to assist the revolutionists . " The prosecution also suggested that Taraknath Das had used Camille de Berri , to store a bomb manual in her safety deposit box . When she was finally located she was revealed to be the Oakland divorcee of a wealthy mining expert and who had had recently remarried . Her new husband had been suspended from the University of California , upon graduating , for petty pilfering from gymnasium lockers . De Berri had come to his rescue by heading a special investigating committee to look into the affair and then by testifying as an alibi witness for him . The defense attorney attempted to argue the accuseds ' beliefs placed them squarely within American ideals . The opening address to the jury denounced the British Government ' s rule in India , declaring that the whole case was being tried at the initiation of Britain . Copies of Ram Chandra ' s Ghadar Party paper were produced quoting liberty appeals by Patrick Henry , George Washington , Abraham Lincoln , and President Woodrow Wilson . The trial ended with a sensational climax when Ram Chandra was shot to death in the courtroom by fellow defendant , Ram Singh . " The New York Times " described the incident , which occurred just after the court announced a recess : Chandra had been murdered because it was believed he had been diverting Nationalists ' funds to his own use . A week later , the judge found the defendants guilty of violating the neutrality of the United States . The Indians , " students and revolutionists , several of them highly educated " were sentenced to serve from twenty - two months to sixty days . "