Maniram Dewan, the first Indian to plant tea commercially in Assam, was hanged in 1858, and the British auctioned his tea gardens

Maniram Dutta Barua worked as a Dewan, an administrator, for the British in Assam, and later as prime minister to the Ahom ruler Purandar Singha. In the 1820s he saw Singpho people growing tea in Upper Assam and reported it to the British. In 1835 he became Dewan of the tea estate at Nazira. He resigned in 1845 and planted his own gardens at Cinnamara near Jorhat and at Senglung near Sibsagar. He is described as the first Indian to grow tea commercially. Live History India says the British ruined his tea business within about six years. In 1853 he put the Ahom royal family's case to a visiting Calcutta judge, and it was dismissed. In 1857 he wrote to the Ahom prince Kandarpeswar Singha and to sepoys of the Assam Light Infantry urging a rising. Police intercepted a letter. He was convicted of treason and hanged at Jorhat on 26 February 1858 with Piyali Baruah. Their bodies were not handed to their families. Senglung and Cinnamara were confiscated and auctioned, and George Williamson bought both. Workers loyal to Maniram reportedly refused to work for the new owners. Cinnamara passed to the Jorehaut Tea Company and is now linked to the Assam Tea Corporation. Senglung's tall wild tea plants survive in Charaideo district. A grave at Cinnamara restored by the Assam Chamber of Commerce is said to be his; no document proves it.