A truly unsung hero, whose life is shrouded in obscurity, Nikunja Sen(1906-1986) had his early education in Dhaka, which was also the springboard of his revolutionary life. Nothing is known about his parentage, place of birth, early life, and education.
He started his revolutionary life as a member of the Mukti Sangha of Hmchandra Ghosh (Barda) and then got associated with the Bengal Volunteers when, in course of the World War I, all the four major revolutionary societies of Bengal, at the suggestion of Jatindranath Mukherjee (Bagha Jatin) agreed to act in tandem. A good organizer, Nikunja Sen roped several youth into revolutionary activities such as Badal Gupta of the Writers’ Buildings Encounter in Calcutta.
A master planner, he was associated with all major revolutionary enterprises in which the Bengal Volunteers were involved. Like his friend Supati Roy, he was thus included in every single incident from Leman’s murder at Dhaka to the Writers’ Buildings feat (8 December 1930) by Binay, Badal, Dinesh; Darjeeling fiasco by Ravi and Bhabaniprasad to boot.
On 8 December 1930, Nikunja took Badal and Dinesh from their hideout and dropped them to the designated place where the Leman assassin, Benoy Basu, had been awaiting them with Rasamoy Sur. The trio then proceeded towards the Writers’ Buildings, while Nikunja and Rasamoy left the place. The latter was arrested shortly after the incident and Nikunja a couple of months after and suffered long imprisonment.
Source: Nihar Roy, Biplabi: Jader Mane Rakhini, 2021, in Bengali; Mritunjoyee, Information & Culture Ministry, West Bengal, 1997, in Bengali; Shubhendu Majumdar, Agniyuger Abhidhan, 2022, in Bengali.