Yatish Yadav By

Government Sent Spies to Snoop on Sadhu identified by Netaji’s Kabul friend as Subhas Chandra Bose

No mystery in India’s history generates such passion and excitement as the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. All governments, starting with the one led by Jawaharlal Nehru have declined to make the voluminous files pertaining to the national hero’s life, times and death public or accessible to members of his family. Though the BJP, in its election campaign had attacked the UPA government of keeping the files secret, last week the NDA government declined to share copies of files on the details of Bose’s passing in its response to an RTI application. Did Netaji die in when his plane crashed over Formosa? was he carrying treasure which the governbment did not want to m,ade public? Or did he make it to Japan where his mortal remains are kept in Rankoji Temple in Japan at the behest of the Indian government? If the ashes are not Bose’s, whose are they? Did he fake his own death after the fall of Kohima?

Did he live in Russia as Stalin’s guest till he died? It was Soviet dictator who facilitated Netaji’s relationship with the Germans and the Japanese in the early years of World War II. Or did the famed general of the Indian National Army, return to Bengal and live out his last days in secrecy as a sadhu to escape the wrath of Nehru, who reportedly disapproved of him? The Modi government declassified a portion of the Netaji papers last week and the answers to some of these questions may lie in the documents accessed by The Sunday Standard. Going through them reevals a massive disinformation operation surrounding Netaji’s disappearance. The Japanese government would not provide any records of the events that concern Bose. The British government suspected that Netaji was alive and living in Russia, but also said it could be part of a Soviet plot to cerate confusion. The Nehru government deputed Intelligence Bureau agents to snoop on ‘Sadhu Saradanandji living in Shoulmari Ashram’ who they suspected was Netaji in disguise. The sadhu was identified as being none other than Bose by his erstwhile host in Kabul, Uttam Chand Malhotra. A greater mystery concerns treasure found in a plane that had crashed off Formosa which allegedly carried Netaji. Medical evidence over the identity of the man cremated by Japanese Army officers is also shaky and inconclusive. Questions were raised in the report about the ashes being kept in Rankoji Temple. The conduct of Shah Nawz, Junior Minister in Nehru’s Cabinet who chaired Netaji Inquiry commission in 1956 was constantly questioned by Netaji’s brother Suresh Chandra Bose. The report was leaked to the media, which Nehru attributed to an “ntelligent guess of a reporter or handiwork of a clerk” in the PMO. In the 1970s, some crucial files pertaining to the inquiry were destroyed by the PMO as part of the “Weeding out of Old Records.”

Although, an affidavit filed by Taneyoshi Yoshimi, Captain, Medical in of the Imperial Japanese army is widely quoted in the report to confirm that Netaji died on August 18, 1945, the doctors statements appear to be inconclusive.A three-page note dated June 30, 1956 in Shah Nawaz Committee report indicates that even the committee members were apprehensive about the credibility of medical evidence.

“The evidence of the doctors will have to be discussed very carefully, as it will surely be a matter of detailed criticism by eminent doctors throughout the world,” is the principal point which acted as guide while drafting the report, declaring that Netaji died in Formosa hospital.

Point 3 of the note said: “Whether Netaji met his death as a result of this accident? The witnesses support this story. There is no reason why they should be disbelieved. After a lapse of about 10 years, these witnesses, who belong to different walks of life and of different nationalities, Habib and Indian and subsequently a Pakistani and the others, who are Japanese, are mostly unconnected with one another and no longer subordinates of their government and Japan not being a totalitarian state, would not be expected to state what was not true.”

British intelligence was sceptical. Secret telegrams and notes from London reval contradictions and conspiracy. A telegram bearing no. 2227, note. IPI/EBP of 1946, dated March 2, 1946 reveals details of a visit by the DIB (Director of Intelligence Branch) India who claimed that Bose may be alive.

“The DIB during his recent visit to London mentioned the receipt from various places in India of information to the effect that Subhas Bose was alive in Russia. In some cases circumstantial details have been added. Consequently, he is not more than 90 per cent sure that Subhas is dead,” the note added.