'Phansi-ghar in Delhi Assembly, secret tunnel to Red Fort': Historians call it ‘fanciful fable’

Fresh claims and heated debates over the existence of an alleged execution room within the historic Delhi Assembly complex have surfaced during the current Monsoon Session, but leading historians and officials maintain there is no basis for such stories, as reported by The Indian Express.

Allegations about two rooms at the Assembly having served as a “phansi-ghar” (execution room) under British rule and speculation regarding a secret tunnel linking the building to the Red Fort, have dominated recent proceedings in the House. However, historians are clear that these tales do not stand up to scrutiny.

Author Sohail Hashmi, cited by The Indian Express, explained, “The Imperial Legislative Council used to meet here before the newly constructed Parliament House of India in New Delhi (Sansad Bhawan) was inaugurated on January 18, 1927. And it is unlikely that the Legislative Council functioned as the Judge and executioner and put people to death on a regular basis on its own premises.” Hashmi labelled the notion of a present-day execution room as “nothing more than a little fanciful fable.”

Historian Swapna Liddle concurred, stressing the implausibility of such a feature: “This building was built as a Secretariat. Nobody builds a phansi-ghar in such a building.” She also voiced scepticism regarding the existence of any tunnel to the Red Fort, citing a lack of credible evidence. “I am not familiar with any accounts or evidence that support this claim,” Liddle was quoted by The Indian Express.

Hashmi dismissed the tunnel claim as well, arguing there would have been no strategic need for it, given that the British were firmly in control at the time, and any escape tunnel would have required design features wholly absent from the existing structure.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Archaeology Department confirmed that it has not investigated these claims nor received any government request to do so.

Attempting to quell the speculation, Speaker Vijender Gupta personally led a guided tour of the Assembly premises, underscoring the building’s architectural and historical significance. “There is no history of any such space. There was never an execution room here,” Gupta firmly stated, pointing out that the spaces in question were always intended for routine functions like delivering tiffin boxes, a detail preserved in the original building plans, as reported by The Indian Express.

Gupta traced the Assembly’s roots to 1912, when the structure, designed by British architect E Montague Thomas and built under Faqir Chand, was inaugurated following the transfer of India’s capital from Calcutta. It first housed the Imperial Legislative Council, later becoming the Central Legislative Assembly post-1919, before the inauguration of the new Parliament building in 1927. The original drawings remain in the National Archives of India, according to Gupta.

The controversy reignited after Speaker Gupta, referencing historical maps, accused the previous AAP administration and then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of spreading false claims in 2022 about a “phansi-ghar” and subsequently renovating the area. BJP Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh pointed to statements by former Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, attributing the origin of these claims to him.

Defending the AAP, MLA Sanjeev Jha argued that many execution sites from the colonial era were unrecorded and insisted on the room’s supposed historical significance. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta decried the allegations as a gross distortion of history and an insult to national martyrs, characterising the ongoing debate as a betrayal of public trust. BJP Minister Kapil Mishra accused the AAP of “tampering with history” by promoting unfounded narratives.

Ram Niwas Goel, standing by his earlier assertions, told The Indian Express he had repeatedly requested the Archaeological Survey of India to investigate the structures but received no response. He cited physical evidence such as cloth shoes, glass bullets and rope discovered on the premises and questioned why these would be present if the rooms were used solely for mundane purposes.

As debate rages on, Speaker Gupta called for accuracy and responsibility in recounting the Assembly’s legacy, warning against the perils of myth-making where democracy’s history is concerned. “Only through truthful representation can future generations engage with our history meaningfully, free from distortion or myth,” he said, as reported by The Indian Express.