In Maharashtra secret societies were formed in Poona (Present Pune), Bombay (present Mumbai), Nasik and other places. In the processions brought out during the festivals the volunteers used to distribute pamphlets and leaflets through which anti-British ideas were propagated.
It is worthy of mention here that as early as 1895, Balkrishna Chapekar and Damodar Chapekar, together famous as ‘Chapekar Brothers’, founded a secret society named ‘Hindu Dharmer Antaraye Binashi Samity’ in the city of Poona.
The society was established with the sole objective of putting an end” to the British rule in India through terrorist outrages.
And it was this secret society of Poona which, for the first time, hit the British with terrorist murder. In 1897 Damodar Chapekar became the first martyr of India when he was executed on a charge of committing murder of two unpopular British officers-Rand and Ayrst.