With the outbreak of the uprising, Krnar, who had enriched himself through the trade of leather and fur, immediately joined Karađorđe in the organization, and became his personal secretary and chairman in the Serbian Ruling Council (Praviteljstvujušči sovjet serbski).
On 12 July 1817, on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, he and Karađorđe secretly crossed the Danube into Serbia, in order to continue the Serbian Revolution, however, the leader of the Second Serbian Uprising, Miloš Obrenović (who had stopped the rebellion in exchange for Ottoman autonomy), learnt of this and had them both beheaded, their heads sent to the Sultan in Constantinople.
[2] The bodies of Karađorđe and Krnar were buried in a tomb in Radovanje Grove by priest Jovan and Dragić Vojkić.
After a failed attempt to kill Obrenović, a military conspiracy group decided to stage the assassination at the royal palace.
They recruited officers of the Royal Guard, including lieutenant colonel Mihailo Naumović, a grandson of Naum, who had sympathy toward the Karađorđević due to the murder of his grandfather ordered by Miloš Obrenović.