Manilal Jaimal Sheth’s journey originates from Bombay (information about his birth and parentage is not known). He was a member of the All India Congress Committee, which threw a roaring call for the Quit India at the Bombay session on 8th August 1942.
To counter the call of Congress, the British Government decided to thrash about and arrest leaders in the early morning of the 9th August 1942, The Congress House and portion of A.I office at Gowalia Tank Maidan were encircled. Subsequently, around 47 leaders were arrested. Manilal Jaimal Sheth was one of them who were arrested. He was first taken to Arthur Road jail and was later shifted to Yeravada jail. The arrest of leaders led to a large crowd of Congressmen against the police action and they were pushed away by the lathi charges. Later, at the Gowalia Tank Maidan, a large crowd of some 4000 persons gathered in response to the previous day’s announcement that the Congress President would perform the flag salutation ceremony and that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru would address the students. The D.C.P., Divisions, ordered the crowd to disperse. They refused and started holding the flag salutation ceremony. The crowd was dispersed by the use of tear gas. Among the list of the arrested leaders, Manilal too featured and all of them were then rushed to Gamdevi Police Station. This did not go well with the mob and in the key commercial and political spaces such as Prathana Samaj, Vithalbhai Patel Road, Thakurdwar, Sandhurst Bridge, Lamington Road, Gol Pitha the acts of hooligan followed and the mob stopped tramcars and buses. Manilal seems to have been among those fearless fighters who did not mind the arrest compromising his business pursuits and had spent his energy for the cause of liberation but to die in a quite unsung way.