NEW DELHI: Full five days after Subhas Chandra Bose was reported killed in a 1945 air crash, a top official of the British Raj had weighed the pros and cons of “trying” Netaji as a “war criminal” and suggested that the “easiest way” would be to leave him where he was and not seek his release.
“In many ways the easiest course would be to leave him where he is and not ask for his release. He might, of course, in certain circumstances be welcomed by the Russians.
“This course would raise fewest immediate political difficulties, but the security authorities consider that in certain circumstances his presence in Russia would be so dangerous as to rule it out altogether.”
This was one of conclusions arrived at by Sir R F Mudie, Home Member, of the Clement Attlee Government’s India Office, which he sent to Sir Evan Jenkins, Home Secretary and the last Governor of Punjab, five days after Bose was reported to have been killed in the aircrash near the Taihoku aerodrome in Taipei on August 18, 1945.
Mudie’s letter and a note, dated August 23, 1945, dealt with Bose’s influence over almost 30,000 Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) and said “it affects all races, castes and communities almost equally strongly.” (AGENCIES)
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