VISHNU GANESH PINGLE  was born in 1888 in a Brahmin family residing at Talegaon Dhabade in ShirurTaluka in Pune District. He was the youngest among 9 siblings. In his early childhood he was a weakling. Often he was ill. He was mostly under medical treatment. His loving mother had more faith in God than medicines. She prayed God and observed fasts for his good health. As a result of both medicines and prayers, Vishnu soon grew healthy and strong. He also was a cleaver student and a good sportsman too.
At the age of nine he was admitted to the primary school in Talegaon. But in 1905 he was transferred to Maharashtra Vidyalaya which was held in Mehunpura in Pune. It provided Hostel facilities and was called Maharashtra Boarding House.
While Vishnu had been learning in this school. Swatantra veer Savarkar was busy in conducting movements against the British Rule. He organized a bonfire of foreign clothes on 7th October 1905. A lot of students from the Rashtriya Vidyalaya actively participated in this movement and Vishnu was one of them.
Vishnu’s father, Ganesh pant was indifferent to worldly affairs and led a very simple life. He liked to use swadeshi (indigenous) things and always thought about uplift of his nation. Under his loving care Vishnu was happily growing in Pune.
Sometimes his Father was sad as their family was poor. He had incurred some debt. Vishnu always tried to assure him and said, “O, Father, don’t you worry. I’ll acquire some skill (vidya) that will enable us to repay all the debts within no time.” He surely acquired such a skill but instead of using it to repay the debt of his family, and  to repay the debt of much wider family, his motherland, India.
Maharashtra Vidyalayo was closed down due to shortage of funds. Meanwhile Mr. Vijapure from Kholapurre started Samarth Vidyalaya in Talegaon as he had to close down his school in Kolhapur. Vishnu joined it in 1908. Initially the school was held in huts: But with the help of devoted students like Vishu the school building was erected. With regular physical exercise Vishnu had become quite strong and sturdy. He had developed a robust personality. His school owned some buffaloes. Vishnu alone milked them in a row single handedly. He was simply dressed in a dhoti, shirt, coat, and a cap all made of swadeshi cloth. He boycotted imported sugar. Now he was popularly known as  Baburao.
During school holidays Vishnu used to visit families of his friends along with them. There he was treated as one of the family members and he too, behaved like one. There he taught children to swim and played various games with them. During some other holidays he traveled all over India dressed as a Sadhu, a saint. To make sure that his role was convincing he learnt by heart so many Sanskrit verses. He could also recite the whole Bhagavad Geeta. This disguise of a saint was as if a stepping stone towards the series of disguise he had to make while struggling for India’s freedom.
In 1910 Samartha Vidyalaya was closed by the British Government. So Vishnu went to Bombay and found employment in Govindrao Potdar’s Pioneer Alkali works at Mahim. Mr. Potdar was a nationalist and an expert at explosives. He belonged to the Nationalist Group and introduced Vishnu to his associates one of them was Hari Laxman Pahl, a lawyer from Vasai. Both of them liked each other and came close. Mr. Pingle thought that Mr. Patil’s friendship would prove beneficial to him while he stayed in Bombay for his further activities. Mr. Patil was strongly impressed by Pingle’s adventurous nature. Feeling of lone was reciprocal. At this time the Swadesh Movement was in full swing. Mr. Pingly strongly wished to do something to strengthen the Movement. He learnt about hand loom industry in Japan. He thought the same could be helpful to Swadeshi Morel so he started his own hand loom industry on a very small scale in temporary shed near Latur.
Though he had started this industry off his own, by his heart he wanted to be an electrical or mechanical engineer so he read books on America, history of American’s freedom. He was a regular reader of the magazine  “Young America”. As a result he decided to go to America to study engineering. He left the loom industry in 1911.
Going to America for farther study was his cherished dream which only a fat sum could realize. He himself had saved some money. He borrowed money from his wealthy friends and some students-aiding institutions. He made necessary arrangements to go to America and came to Talegaon to say goodbye to his friends and family.
Everyone in his family was surprised by this untimely visit of Vishnu but he uttered not a single word about his oncoming visit to America. After a couple of days he left home taking along his elder brother, Keshavrao. Then only on their way to the station he told his brother about his coming visit to America. His brother time and again requested him to return home but Vishnu was firm in his decision. He said, “Dear brother, I am going to America for further studies. After reaching America I’ll write to them in detail.” Helplessly Keshavrao returned home and conveyed his message to cancel his visit on Vishnu’s pure address. But by that time Vishnu has left for Hong Kong.
In  US
Vishnu was also strongly influenced by the history of the American War of Independence. In 1911, Pingle left Talegaon for the United States. It is said that he kept the news of his impending departure from his family and only told his elder brother Keshavrao of his plans at the railway station. He reached America via Hong Kong, and enrolled as a student of mechanical engineering at the University of Washington in 1912.While in the United States, Pingle became associated with the Ghadar Party and became an active worker. As World War1, opened in Europe, plans began between the Germans, the Berlin Committee in Europe and the Ghadaritemovement in America to attempt an insurrection in India.
Ghadar Conspiracy
Pingle had known Satyen Bhushan Sen (Jatin Mukherjee’s emissary) in the company of Gadhar members (such as Kartar Singh Sarabha) at the University of California, Berkeley. Tasked to consolidate contact with the Indian revolutionary movement, as part of the Ghadar Conspiracy,Satyen Bhushan Sen, Kartar Singh Sarabha, V.G. Pingle and a batch of Sikh revolutionaries sailed from America by the S. S. Salami in the second half of October 1914. Satyen and Pingle halted in China for a few days to meet the Gadhar leaders (mainly Tahal Singh) for future plans. They met Dr download (17) V.G.PingleSun Yat-Sen for co-operation. Dr Sun was not prepared to displease the British. After Satyen and party left for India, Tahal sent Atmaram Kapur, Santosh Singh and Shiv Dayal Kapur to Bangkok for necessary arrangements.
In November 1914, Pingle, Kartar Singh and Satyen Sen arrived in Calcutta. Satyen introduced Pingle and Kartar Singh to Jatin Mukherjee. “Pingle had long talks with Jatin Mukherjee, who sent them to Rash Behari in Benares with necessary information during the third week of December.Satyen remained in Calcutta at 159 Bow Bazar Street. Charles Tegart, the Calcutta police superintendent, was informed of an attempt to tamper with some Sikh troops at the Dakshineswar gunpowder magazine. “A reference to the Military authorities shows that the troops in question were the 93rd Burmans” sent to Mesopotamia. Jatin Mukherjee and Satyen Bhushan Sen were seen interviewing these Sikhs.
It may be remembered that since 1900, the Extremist leaders under Lokamanya Tilak’s inspiration, turned Benares into a centre for sedition. Sundar Lal (b. 1885, son of Tota Ram, Muzaffarnagar) had given a very objectionable speech in 1907 on Shivaji Festival in Benares. Follower of Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Sri Aurobindo, in 1908 this man had accompanied Lala in his UP lecture tour. His organ, the Swarajya of Allahabad, was warned in April 1908 against sedition. On 22 August 1909, Sundar Lal and Sri Aurobindo delivered “mischievous speeches” in College Square, Calcutta. TheKarmayogi in Hindi was issued in Allahabad since September 1909: controlled by Sri Aurobindo, the Calcutta Karmagogin was edited by Amarendra Chatterjee who had introduced Rash Behari to Sundar Lal. In 1915, Pingle will be received in Allahabad by the Swarajya group.
Rash Behari had been in Benares since early 1914. Large number of outrages were committed there between October 1914 and September 1915, 45 of them before February was over. On 18 November 1914, while examining two bomb caps, he and Sachin Sanyal had been injured. They shifted to a house in Bangalitola, where Pingle visited him with a letter from Jatin Mukherjee and reported that some 4000 Sikhs of the Ghadarhad already reached Calcutta. 15.000 more were waiting to come and join the rebellion. Rash Behari sent Pingle and Sachin to Amritsar, to discuss with Mula Singh who had come from Shanghai. Rash Behari’s man of confidence, Pingle led a hectic life in UP and Punjab for several weeks.
During the Komagata Maru affair in Budge Budge, near Calcutta, on 29 September 1914, BabaGurdit Singh had contacted Atulkrishna Ghosh and Satish Chakravarti, two eminent associates ofJatin Mukherjee, who actively assisted them. Since then, angry letters from US-based Indians reached India with hope of a German victory; one of the emigrant leaders warned that his associates were in touch with the Bengal revolutionary party. It was at this juncture, in December 1914, that Pingle arrived in the Punjab, promising Bengali co-operation to the malcontent emigrants. A meeting demanded revolution, plundering of Government treasuries, seduction of Indian troops, collection of arms, preparation of bombs and the commission of dacoties. Rash Behari planned collecting gangs of villagers for the rebellion. Simultaneous outbreaks at Lahore, Ferozepore & Rawalpindi was designed. Rising at Dacca, Benares, Jubbalpur to be extended.
Preparing bombs was a definite part of the Gadhar programme. The Sikh conspirators – knowing very little about it – decided to call in a Bengali expert, as they had known in California Professor Surendra Bose, associate of Taraknath Das. Towards the end of December 1914, at a meeting at Kapurthala, Pingle announced that a Bengali babu was ready to co-operate with them. On 3 January 1915, Pingle and Sachindra in Amritsar received Rs 500 from the Ghadar, and returned to Benares.
Pingle returned to Calcutta with Rash Behari’s invitation to the Jugantar leaders to meet him at Benares for co-ordinating and finalising their plans. Jatin Mukherjee, Atulkrishna Ghosh, Naren Bhattacharya left for Benares (early January 1915). In a very important meeting, Rash Behari announced the rebellion, proclaiming : “Die for their country.” Though through Havildar Mansha Singh, the 16th Rajput Rifles at Fort William was successfully approached, Jatin Mukherjee wanted two months for the army revolt, synchronising with the arrival of the German arms. He modified the plan according to the impatience of the Gadhar militants to rush to action. Rash Behari and Pingle went to Lahore. Sachin tampered with the 7th Rajputs (Benares) and the 89th Punjabis at Dinapore. Damodar Sarup [Seth] went to Allahabad. Vinayak Rao Kapile conveyed bombs from Bengal to Punjab. Bibhuti [Haldar, approver] and Priyo Nath Bhattacharya seduced the troops at Benares; Nalini [Mukherjee] at Jabalpur. On 14 February, Kapile carried from Benares to Lahore a parcel containing materials for 18 bombs.
By the middle of January, Pingle was back in Amritsar with “the fat babu” (Rash Behari); to avoid too many visitors, Rash Behari moved to Lahore after a fortnight. In both the places he collected materials for making bombs and ordered for 80 bomb cases to a foundry at Lahore. Its owner out of suspicion refused to execute the order. Instead, inkpots were used as cases in several of the dacoities. Completed bombs were found during house searches, while Rash Behari escaped. “By then effective contact had been established between the returned Gadharites and the revolutionaries led by Rash Behari, and a large section of soldiers in the NW were obviously disaffected.” “It was expected that as soon as the signal was received there would be mutinies and popular risings from the Punjab to Bengal.” “48 out of the 81 accused in the Lahore conspiracy case, including Rash Behari’s close associates like Pingle, Mathura Singh & Kartar Singh Sarabha, recently arrived from North America.”
Along with Rash Behari Bose, Sachin Sanyal and Kartar Singh, Pingle became one of the main coordinators of the attempted mutiny in February 1915. Under Rash Behari, Pingle issued intensive propaganda for revolution from December 1914, sometimes disguised as Shyamlal, a Bengali; sometimes Ganpat Singh, a Punjabi.[13] Confident of being able to rally the Indian sepoy, the plot for the mutiny took its final shape. The 23rd Cavalry in Punjab was to seize weapons and kill their officers while on roll call on 21 February. This was to be followed by mutiny in the 26th Punjab, which was to be the signal for the uprising to begin, resulting in an advance on Delhi and Lahore. The Bengal revolutionaries contacted the Sikh troops stationed at Dacca through letters of introduction sent by Sikh soldiers of Lahore, and succeeded in winning them over. The Bengal cell was to look for the Punjab Mail entering the Howrah Station the next day (which would have been cancelled if Punjab was seized) and was to strike immediately. However, the Punjab CID successfully infiltrated the conspiracy at the last moment through Kirpal Singh: a cousin of the trooper Balwant Singh (23rd Cavalry), US-returned Kirpal, a spy, visited Rash Behari’s Lahore headquarters near the Mochi Gate, where over a dozen leaders including Pingle met on 15 February 1915. Kirpal informed the police.Sensing that their plans had been compromised, the D-day was brought forward to 19 February, but even these plans found their way to the Punjab CID. Plans for revolt by the 130th Baluchi Regiment at Rangoon on 21 February were thwarted. Attempted revolts in the 26th Punjab, 7th Rajput, 130th Baluch, 24th Jat Artillery and other regiments were suppressed. Mutinies in Ferozepur, Lahore, and Agra were also suppressed and many key leaders of the conspiracy were arrested, although some managed to escape or evade arrest. A last-ditch attempt was made by Kartar Singh and Pingle to trigger a mutiny in the 12th Cavalry regiment at Meerut. Kartar Singh escaped from Lahore, but was arrested in Benares, and V. G. Pingle was apprehended from the lines of the 12th Cavalry at Meerut, in the night of 23 March 1915. He carried “ten bombs of the pattern used in the attempt to assassinate Lord Hardinge in Delhi,” according to Mumbai police report. It is said that it was enough to blow up an entire regiment. Mass arrests followed as the Ghadariteswere rounded up in Punjab and the Central Provinces. Rash Behari Bose escaped from Lahore and in May 1915 fled to Japan. Other leaders, including Giani Pritam Singh, Swami Satyananda Puri and others fled to Thailand or other sympathetic nations.
Trial and execution
Vishnu Ganesh Pingle along with a number of other Ghadaritesincluding Kartar Singh, Harnam Singh and Bhai Paramanand were tried at the Lahore Conspiracy trial in April 1915 by a special tribunal constituted under the Defence of India Act 1915, for their roles in the February plot.Pingle was executed by hanging at the Lahore Central Jail on  (November 16, 1915), along with Kartar Singh.