The correct answer is Option (2) → Bahadur Shah Zafar
11-12 May 1857: Bahadur Shah II accepts nominal leadership of the revolt.
During the Revolt of 1857, Bahadur Shah II, also known as Bahadur Shah Zafar, played a symbolic role as the nominal leader of the rebellion. Bahadur Shah Zafar was the last Mughal emperor, and by the time of the uprising, the Mughal Empire had already lost its political power to the British East India Company.
Timeline of important events in the 1850s:
1856: Nawab Wajid Ali Shah deposed; Awadh annexed
10 May 1857: Mutiny starts in Meerut
11-12 May 1857: Delhi garrisons revolt; Bahadur Shah accepts nominal leadership
20-27 May 1857: Sepoys mutiny in Aligarh, Etawah, Mainpuri, Etah
30 May 1857: Rising in Lucknow
May-June 1857: Mutiny turns into a general revolt of the people
30 June 1857: British suffer defeat in the battle of Chinhat
July 1857: Shah Mal killed in battle
25 Sept 1857: British forces under Havelock and Outram enter the Residency in Lucknow | 
