Within ten days of the ______ festival held at Poona, Mr. Rand, the Collector of Poona and another officer were shot dead while returning from the Government House.

Mr. W.C. Rand, the Chairman of the Special Plague Committee in Poona, and Lieutenant Ayerst were shot dead on June 22, 1897, while returning from the Government House after attending Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebration. This assassination occurred within ten days of the conclusion of the Ganapati festival, which was popularised by Bal Gangadhar Tilak and used as a platform for nationalist activities and criticism of the government's handling of the plague. The perpetrators, the Chapekar brothers, were motivated by the harsh and intrusive measures implemented by the authorities under Rand during the plague epidemic.