This man from Odisha caught Nathuram Godse after Mahatma Gandhi`s assassination

Raghu Nayak, who worked as a gardener at the Birla House in New Delhi, was the first to chase down Nathuram Godse.

New Delhi: Everyone knows about Nathuram Godse, the man who shot dead the Father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, but hardly one remembers the man who had shown exemplary courage in catching the assassinator on January 30, 1948.

Though he could not save the leader, Raghu Nayak, who worked as a gardener at the Birla House in New Delhi, was the first to chase down Godse and overpower him. Later, Godse was awarded capital punishment.

Nayak hailed from Jagulaipada village of Kendrapara district in Odisha.

The then President Rajendra Prasad awarded Nayak Rs 500 for his heroics.

Nayak breathed his last in 1983.

In a rare display of recognition for the hero who remained forgotten by history, the Odisha government on Wednesday handed over a cheque of Rs 5 lakhs to his widow Mandodari Nayak, 85, and felicitated her by presenting a shawl.

The residents of Jagulaipada erected a memorial pillar in Nayak's memory in 2005 with assistance from German automobile maker Daimler-Chrysler.