Death of Subhas Chandra Bose

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His last undisputed picture that was taken on the morning of August 17, 1945 in Saigon

The alleged death of Subhas Chandra Bose, the supreme commander of Azad Hind Fauz and Free India Legion in a plane crash in Taiwan on August 18, 1945, has long been the subject of dispute. Recently an Indian central commission of inquiry confirmed one popular version, that Bose's death was staged to facilitate an escape to the USSR.

[edit] Introduction

Bose, a prominent leader of the Indian independence movement against the British Raj in India, was reported to be flying to Tokyo, Japan when the alleged plane crash occurred at Matsuyama aerdrome in Taihoku, northern Formosa (now the Republic of China, or Taiwan). The news was withheld by Japanese government for five days before it was announced by Japanese news agency Domei.^[1] 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 Subhash 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 newpaper clip reporting the death of Netaji and General Sidei

The matter was looked into by several allied intelligence teams and soon holes in the Japanese version became apparent.^{[citation needed]} A crack team of Intelligence Bureau found out that Bose was heading for the USSR with the Japanese assistance.^{[citation needed]}

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.

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 first two upheld the Taiwan crash version, whereas the third negated it.

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,^{[2] [3]} but chose to ignore or actively collaborate to suppress this information after Independence.^[4][5]

[edit] 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 Azad Hind and was one of the three charged with treason in the 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 dissientient 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.

[edit] Justice GD Khosla Commission

Main article: Khosla Commission

Consequently, in June 1970 the Government of India formed a judicial commission headed by Justice GD Khosla, former Chief Justice of Punjab High Court. The decision followed years of lobbying by Indian lawmaker, most notable among them were Professor Samar Guha and Amiya Nath Bose, Subhas Bose's nephew. Unlike Shah Nawaz, GD Khosla visited but refused to interact with the ROC Government. Much before the commission's report was made public June 1974, it came under assault of Samar Guha. This report also stated that the Bose had died in Taiwan.

[edit] Rejection of Shah Nawaz, Khosla reports

After Emergency was lifted in India, Samar Guha fought a political battle in Indian Parliament, where the matter of Bose's death was debated in 1977-78. On August 28, 1978 Prime Minister Morarji Desai stated that there were "various important contradictions in the testimony of the (mostly Japanese) witnesses" to Bose's death. And that "some further contemporary official documentary records have also become available", making the Government of India think that the conclusions reached by GD Khosla and Shah Nawaz Khan were not "decisive".

[edit] Mukherjee Commission

Main article: 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

In 1999, following a court order, the Government of India formed Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry. It was headed by Justice (rtd) MK 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 were 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.

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 Indian Government rejected the findings of the Commission].^[6]

[edit] Bose mystery in contemporary India

Some documents perhaps connected to Bose's death remained classified to this day^[7]. Several Indian ministries, including the Indian Prime Minister's Office, have refused to make public the documents under the Right to Information Act on the ground that their disclosure will affect India's relations with foreign countries. ^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] Reports submitted by various commissions

[edit] External links