Disappearance of Subhas Chandra Bose

The Disappearance of Subhas Chandra Bose relates to the series of incidents that developed from the disappearance of Subhas Chandra Bose, the supreme commander of Azad Hind Fauj and Free India Legion, during the closing stages of the Second World War. It was announced by Japan that he died in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945. But it has long been the subject of dispute. There have been three Government of India sponsored commissions and numerous private investigations to find out if Subhas Chandra Bose died in the plane crash. The third Indian commission that was appointed for enquiring into this concluded in its report tabled in parliament in May 2006, that the news about Bose's "death" was staged to facilitate an escape to the USSR.

Introduction

Subhas Chandra Bose, a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement against the British Raj in India, and a general of the Imperial Japanese army Tsunamasa Shidei were reported to be flying to Tokyo, Japan when the alleged plane crash occurred at Matsuyama aerodrome (now Songshan Airport) in Taipei, northern Formosa (now Taiwan). After cremation, Bose's ashes were taken to Japan and interred at the Renkōji Temple in Tokyo. The news was withheld by the Japanese government for five days before it was announced by Japanese news agency Domei. The Allied forces took the Japanese news as a ploy. The then Viceroy of India, Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, is reported to have noted in his diary that "I wonder if the Japanese announcement of Subhas Chandra Bose's death in an air-crash is true. I suspect it very much, it is just what should be given out if he meant to go underground."

A newspaper clip reporting the death of Netaji and General Shidei

The matter was looked into by several Allied intelligence teams and soon discrepancies in the Japanese report became apparent. The findings of the intelligence teams seem to have not confirmed the Japanese announcement. For as late as October 1946, the Government of British India refused to confirm the death of Bose.^{[citation needed]}

After India's independence, the matter was looked into by three official panels formed by the government of India following the public demands. These panels were: Shah Nawaz Committee, Justice GD Khosla Commission & Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry. The Shah Nawaz Committee upheld the Taiwan crash version,^{[citation needed]} as did the Justice GD Khosla Commission,^{[citation needed]} whereas the Mukherjee Commission negated it.^{[citation needed]}

There has been allegations that the Indian Intelligence Bureau had doctored an intelligence report to "prove" Bose's death. The official view of the Indian government has been formed based on this doctored document. Justice Mukherjee mentioned in his report that Netaji was no more, considering his age at the time of report submission. But based on documentary evidences, airport records, and hospital records, the commission dismissed the plane crash theory, in favour of the view that he might have escaped to Soviet Russia.

However, it has also been alleged at various times that the Indian government and political leadership was aware that Bose may have been alive, and according to one theory, in captivity in Soviet Union, but chose to ignore or actively collaborate to suppress this information after Independence.

Shah Nawaz Committee

Main article: Shah Nawaz Committee

In April 1956, the Jawaharlal Nehru Government formed a committee headed by Shah Nawaz Khan. Khan had earlier risen to the rank of Lt Col in the Second Indian National Army, before he was captured by allied troops after the fall of Hind and was one of the three charged with treason in the Red Fort Trial. He was thus seen as an appropriate person to head the inquiry. Two other members of the inquiry commission were SN Mitra and Suresh Chandra Bose, Bose's elder brother. The committee's report that Bose had indeed died in Taipei became disputed due to several reasons. The most important among them was the dissentient report of Suresh Bose. Suresh Bose refused to agree with the findings of his colleagues and accused them and the Government of India of trying to coerce him into agreeing with their views.

In mid 1990s the released archives of Indian Political Intelligence proved conclusively that Bose was killed in 1945. Since rumours were circulating that he was still alive, Indian Political Intelligence arranged for Military Intelligence in New Delhi to investigate the matter. Captain Turner of the War Crimes Liaison Section in Taiwan(formerly called Formosa) was put on to the case and he managed to locate the last person to have seen Bose alive. This was Captain (Medical), who was under arrest in Stanley He gave a statement that resolved the matter: ‘I personally cleaned his injuries with oils and dressed them. He was suffering from extensive burns over the whole of his body, though the most serious were those on his head, chest and thighs. During the first four hours he was semi-conscious...he murmured, and muttered in his state of coma, but never regained consciousness. At about 2300 hrs he died. I injected Formalin into the body and also had the coffin partly filled with lime.’ The coffin was then taken away and Bose's body was cremated.

G. D. Khosla Commission

The G. D. Khosla Commission of Inquiry was set up during the tenure of Indira Gandhi to probe the disappearance of Bose. The commission concluded that Bose died in the plane crash. The report was accepted by the Indian government. Later, following the protests of M. P. s during the tenure of Morarji Desai, the government trashed both reports. Desai observed that "The Shah Nawaz Committee and the Khosla Commission hold the report of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's death following a plane crash as true. Since then, reasonable doubts have been cast on the correctness in the two reports and various important contradictions in the testimony of the witnesses have been noticed. Some further contemporary official documentary records have also become available. In the light of those doubts and contradictions and those records, government finds it difficult to accept that the earlier conclusions are decisive."

Mukherjee Commission

The copy of the death certificate in the crematorium records which refers to the alleged corpse of Netaji as being of one Okara Ichiro, as reproduced by Mukherjee Commission.

Main article: Mukherjee Commission

In 1999, following a court order, the Bharatiya Janata Party led Indian government formed Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry. It was headed by Justice (rtd) M.K. Mukherjee of the Supreme Court of India. The commission perused hundreds of files on Bose's death drawn from several countries and also visited Japan, Russia and Taiwan.

Overturning the findings of previous panels, this commission's findings were that the news of Bose's death in Taipei was a cover-up for his escape to the USSR. The Commission, however, stated that they could not confirm Bose's presence in the USSR for want of evidence.

On the question of whether the sanyasi of Faizabad (Bhagwanji) was (or not) Bose incognito, Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee stated in his report that the question "need not be answered" as there was no solid evidence to prove it.

The Mukherjee Commission submitted its report to Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil on November 8, 2005. The report was tabled in the Indian Parliament on May 17, 2006. However, the Congress Party led Indian Government rejected the findings of the Commission.

Bose mystery in contemporary India

Main article: Mission Netaji

Mission Netaji is a Delhi-based Indian non-profit trust that conducts research on Subhas Chandra Bose's disappearance. Some documents the organisation has dug out have information connected to Bose's disappearance. This led to more documents that remain classified. Several Indian ministries, including the Indian Prime Minister's Office, have refused to make public the documents under the Right to Information Act campaign launched by Mission Netaji, on the ground that their disclosure will affect India's relations with foreign countries.

List of Researchers on Bose Mystery

• Anuj Dhar: Writer of Book- India's Biggest Cover up (2012)& Activist of "Mission Netaji"
• Samar Guha: Ex-MP, Writer of Book- Netaji Dead or Alive
• Keshab Bhattacharjee: A Lawer by proffession, Writer of Book- Chakrabyuhe Netaji
• Manoj Kumar Mukherjee: Ref: Mukherjee Commission

Books on the mystery

Main article: India's Biggest Cover-up

Many books have been published in independent India, dealing with the subject of Bose death mystery. This includes books such as Netaji: Dead or Alive? by Samar Guha and Back from Dead: Inside the Subhas Bose Mystery by Anuj Dhar. But the most notable book on the mystery has been India's Biggest Cover-up by Anuj Dhar. The book contains many startling allegations. It uses many "top secret" documents and photographs to argue that Bose was alive at least until 1985. The book accuses President of India Pranab Mukherjee and the Indian Intelligence Bureau of foul play to prevent the truth from being revealed.

Sugata Bose's mention about alleged ashes of Bose

Subhas Bose's grand nephew Sugata Bose wrote in his book His Majesty's Opponent that a part of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's ashes were kept in the house of Rama Murti, the founder of Indian Independence League in Tokyo. He also mentioned that the ashes were brought to India in 2006 under the intimation of the Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh. New Delhi based not-for-profit organisation Mission Netaji sought the validity of this information though the Right to Information act, and received the information from the Prime Minister's Office that "no such information exists."

See also

• Mission Netaji -Institution for research on disappearance of Subhas Chandra Bose
• Bhagwanji
• Mukherjee Commission
• Khosla Commission
• Shah Nawaz Committee
• Anuj Dhar

References

Reports submitted by various commissions

• Shah Nawaz Committee Report
• The Dissentient Report
• Khosla Commission Report
• Mukherjee Commission Report

External links

• Bhaumik, Subir (2005-02-04). "Taiwan rejects Bose crash theory". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-08-05. 
• Japanese pictures of the reported crash in Taipei
• Amartya Sen goes by Anita Pfaff's view
• 'I saw Subhash Chandra Bose's burnt body'
• ‘Govt has destroyed evidence about Netaji's death’
• RTI makes Netaji rise from 'ashes'
• R&AW has no information on disappearance of Netaji
• PMO refuses data on Netaji despite RTI appeal
• Hindustan Times probe