Anushilan Samiti
By 1902, Calcutta had three secret societies working toward the violent overthrow of British rule in India. One was founded by Calcutta student Satish Chandra Basu with the patronage of Calcutta barrister Pramatha Mitra, another was led by Bengali woman Sarala Devi and the third was founded by Aurobindo Ghosh. Ghosh was one of the strongest proponents of militant Indian nationalism at the time. By 1905 the work of Aurobindo and his brother, Barin, enabled Anushilan Samity to spread throughout Bengal. Nationalist writings and publications by Aurobindo and Barin, including "Bande Mataram" and "Jugantar", had a widespread influence on Bengal youth. The 1905 partition of Bengal stimulated radical nationalist sentiments in Bengal's Bhadralok community, helping Anushilan acquire a support base of educated, politically-conscious and disaffected members of local youth societies. Its program emphasized physical training, training its recruits with daggers and "lathis" (bamboo staffs used as weapons). The Dhaka branch of Anushilan was led by Pulin Behari Das, and branches spread throughout East Bengal and Assam. More than 500 branches were opened in eastern Bengal and Assam, linked by "close and detailed organization" to Pulin's headquarters at Dhaka. It absorbed smaller groups in the province, soon overshadowing its parent organisation in Calcutta. Branches of Dhaka Anushilan emerged in Jessore, Khulna, Faridpur, Rajnagar, Rajendrapur, Mohanpur, Barvali and Bakarganj. Estimates of Dhaka Anushilan Samiti's reach indicate a membership of 15,000 to 20,000. Within two years, Dhaka Anushilan devolved its aims from the Swadeshi to that of political terrorism.
Mokshadacharan Samadhyayi
Earlier, in 1907, Indra Nandi sent members of Atmonnati Samiti, including Pabitra Datta and Chuni Mitra, to found at Benares the 'Matri Sebak Samiti'. "This is distinctly suspicious," mentions the Police report. Associating with the "Yugantar" and the "Sandhya" gangs, in May 1908, a few days before Khudiram and Prafulla Chaki started for Muzaffarpur, Suranath returned from Kolkata to establish a local branch of the Anushilan in Benares, with the help of, Sudhangshu Mitra, Sachin Sanyal, a student in the entrance class of the Bengalitola High School, and his "Tantrik disciple" Debnarayan Mukherjee. Sachin kept "himself all along in the back ground and printed and circulated widely at Benares a seditious pamphlet on the occasion of the anniversary of Maharaja Pratapaditya at the instance of the Bengali anarchists, in order to instigate the youths of Benares," noted Denham. "Suranath induced Jatin Banerjee and Mokhoda to come over to Benares during the Puja holidays." Mokhoda advised the members of the party as to their future course of conduct. "Mokhada and a few other unknown men are trying to unite the extremists and the nationalists into one common bond of partisanship," wrote Denham. "A plan is also under consideration to get the Mussalmans of Turkey and Persia to prejudice the illiterate Muhammadan mass of this country against the English and to send two or three clever English-educated Bengalis to Kabul in the guise of Mussalman fakirs after making them versed in the Koran, and also to bring up after some time Arabindo Ghose (or Sri Aurobindo) either to Benares or to some other place for a secret consultation between him and Suranath.".