Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

A government committee is expected to decide on Thursday whether to declassify more files on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose after a controversy erupted over revelations that the freedom fighter's relatives were snooped on for two decades.

The inter-ministerial panel chaired by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth will review the Official Secrets Act in connection with the Netaji files. There are nearly 60 files linked to Bose with the Prime Minister's Office and about 25 with the External Affairs Ministry. Also read: Nehru snooped on Netaji's family for two decades



There is no file related to the freedom fighter with the Home Ministry as all have already been declassified and handed over to the National Archives. The committee will examine whether the declassification of the files will in anyway hamper India's relations with some foreign countries and also review certain provisions of the Official Secret Act, sources said.

The rules say that files can be declassified automatically after 30 years. Bose's family has demanded the immediate declassification of the files so that the mystery behind the death and disappearance of the iconic freedom fighter 70 years ago is resolved. Also read: Exclusive: Bose family's letter to PM Narendra Modi on Snoopgate

Netaji's grandnephew Surya Kumar Bose met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Berlin on Tuesday and requested him declassify all files related to events since his death or disappearance in Taiwan on August 18, 1945. Modi has assured the family that he will personally look into their demands.



The case has created a huge controversy in India after India Today reported that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had asked the Intelligence Bureau to snoop on Netaji's family for two decades between 1948 and 1968. Nehru was in power for 16 of the 20 years. The files, now with the National Archives, said the Bose family homes at 1, Woodburn Park and 38/2 Elgin Road, were kept under surveillance. The IB sleuths intercepted and copied letters written by the Bose family and even trailed them on foreign tours.



Bose's family reacted to reports with shock and said it was a poor reflection on the quality of democracy at that time. In Kolkata, the family members of Bose hit the streets on Tuesday demanding the declassification of files on the freedom fighter. Bose had quit Congress before independence over differences with Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi and launched an organised military resistance against the British after raising the Indian National Army.

