.
Exile, return to Serbia and death
Karađorđe secretly entered the Pashalik on 24 July [
O.S. 12 July] 1817, crossing the Danube together with his servant,
Naum Krnar. He then contacted his
kum,
Vujica Vulićević, who offered him an abode in the oak forest of
Radovanje Grove, near
Velika Plana. Unbeknownst to Karađorđe, Vulićević was on Obrenović's payroll. After escorting Karađorđe and his servant to a tent in the forest, Vulićević informed Obrenović of Karađorđe's whereabouts through a courier. Shortly thereafter, he received a letter from Obrenović telling him that Karađorde was to be killed.
[81] Vulićević enlisted one of his close confidantes,
Danilo Novaković, to take Karađorđe's life. The following morning, just before sunrise, Novaković snuck into Karađorđe's tent and axed him to death while he slept. He then went to the riverside and shot Krnar with a rifle as he was gathering water. Karađorđe's lifeless body was beheaded.
[83] His severed head was taken to Belgrade and presented to
Marashli Ali Pasha,
[83] who had been appointed the governor of the Pashalik two years prior.
[80] Ali Pasha had the head flayed, stuffed and sent to the Sultan himself.
[83]
In Constantinople, Karađorđe's head was impaled on a stake and left on public display for a week. His body was buried on Serbian soil, but his skull ended up in the hands of a Constantinople museum.