Al Haqeeqa
Ghulam Rasool Khan, who succeeded as Nawab of Kurnool in 1823, was nurturing an antipathy towards foreign rule from his childhood. He fight tooth and nail to keep his state independent from British subjugation, thus turned his Kurnool Fort into an ordnance factory. This led to collusion of his cousins with the English in hatching a conspiracy against him in order to wrest power from Rasool. The British became alarmed of the huge armory of the Nawab and apprehending a rebellion ordered to close it down, besides detailing the East Indian Company forces to capture the fort of Kurnool as well as to arrest the Nawab.
The fort was under seize for six days (12-17 October, 1839) and finally the Nawab was detained/imprisoned in Tiruchinapalli Jail. The Britishers in a conspiracy, got the Nawab poisoned by his servant, resulting in his death on July 12, 1840. The English tried hard to hide this conspiracy but history had documented the facts in course of time. Ghulam Rasool Khan is still remembered by the people of Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh, where they still eulogize him saying the ballad titled ‘Kandanavolu Nawabu Katha Story’ of Kurnool Nawab.
