Hindu nationalist and freedom fighter, Ganesh Damodar Savarkar, died on 16 March 1945.

While Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is hailed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) as a freedom fighter and a Hindu nationalist icon, his older sibling GD Savarkar – or Babarao Savarkar, as he was known – who helped set up the RSS, has slipped into obscurity.

On his 72nd death anniversary, here are a few, lesser-known facts about the life and times of Ganesh Damodar Savarkar: