His father, Chunilal Dutta, was an accountant in Bombay.Kanailal's early school life was started in Girgaon Aryan Education Society School, Bombay and later he came back to Chandannagar and took admission in Chandannagar Duplex Vidyamandir.In 1908, he gave the BA exam from Hooghly Mohsin College.
During his early college days, Kanailal met with Professor Charu Chandra Roy, who inspired him to join the revolutionary movement during the agitations against the Partition of Bengal. During 1905 movement against partition of Bengal, Kanailal Dutta was in the forefront from Chandannagar group.
In 1908, he moved to Kolkata and joined Kolkata based revolutionary group Jugantar. In connection with the Kingsford assassination attempt, Kanailal was arrested on 2 May 1908 and detained in Alipore Jail. There he and Satyendranath Basu (another detainee) were told to kill Naren Goswami. On 31 August 1908, they carried out their orders and shot him dead inside the jail hospital.
On 21 October 1908, the High Court pronounced its judgment by giving sentence of death to both the accused. Kanailal appeared to be absolutely calm over the event. The sentence was carried on 10 November 1908, in the Alipore Jail at about seven in the morning.
