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Saraswathi Rajamani

(1927 – 2018) – (Tamilnadu)

Saraswathi Rajamani (Aged 91) was born on January 11, 1927, in Rangoon, Burma (present-day Myanmar). Her father owned a gold mine and was one of the richest Indians in Rangoon. Her family was a staunch supporter of the Indian freedom movement and contributed money to the movement. At the age of 16, inspired by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s speech at Rangoon, she donated all her jewelry to the Indian National Army (INA). Impressed by her determination, Bose named her Saraswathi.

In 1942, Rajamani was recruited to the Rani of Jhansi regiment of the INA and was part of the army’s military intelligence wing. She is credited as the first Indian female spy. During the Second World War, Rajamani was sent as a spy disguised as a worker into the British Military base in Kolkata to gather secrets for the INA. She played a key role in uncovering the British plan to assassinate Bose during his secret visit to Indian borders in 1943.

For almost two years, Rajamani and some of her female colleagues masqueraded as boys and gathered intelligence. While posing as a boy, her name was Mani. Once, one of her colleagues was caught by the British troops. To rescue her, Rajamani infiltrated the British camp dressed as a dancer. She drugged the British officers who were in charge and freed her colleague. While they were escaping, Rajamani was shot in the leg by a British guard, but she still managed to avoid capture.

Her work in the army ended when Netaji disbanded the INA after World War II. After the war, Rajamani’s family gave away all their wealth, including the gold mine, and returned to India. She donated insignia to the INA gallery of the Netaji Subhash Birthplace National Museum in Cuttack, Odisha.

In 2005, a newspaper reported that she was living in Chennai and, although sustained by freedom fighters’ pension, was struggling to make ends meet. She appealed to the Tamil Nadu State Government for help. The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa, provided assistance to her in the form of a gift of ₹5 lakh and a rent-free housing board flat. In 2016, the EPIC Channel featured her story in the television series “Adrishya.” She passed away on January 13, 2018, in Royapettah, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.