Bhagat Singh was diabetic.
Bhagat Singh ( [ pə̀ɡət̪ sɪ́ŋɡ ] -- 23 March 1931 ) was a charismatic Indian socialist revolutionary whose two acts of dramatic violence against the British in India and execution at age 23 made him a folk hero of the Indian independence movement . They believed Scott was responsible for the death of popular Indian nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai , by having ordered a lathi charge in which Rai was injured , and , two weeks after which , died of a heart attack . Awaiting trial , Singh gained much public sympathy after he joined fellow defendant Jatin Das in a hunger strike , demanding better prison conditions for Indian prisoners , and ending in Das 's death from starvation in September 1929 . Singh was convicted and hanged in March 1931 , aged 23 . In still later years , Singh , an atheist and socialist in life , won admirers in India from among a political spectrum that included both Communists and right-wing Hindu nationalists .