KOLKATA, Aug 19: Family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to form a SIT to unravel the mystery surrounding the nationalist leader’s disappearance over seven decades ago.
They also urged Modi to speak to Japanese premier Shinzo Abe to ensure that files held by that country’s government are declassified to unravel the mystery.
The special investigation team should comprise of Intelligence Bureau and union home department personnel, Netaji researchers, forensic experts and members of Netaji’s family, the nationalist leader’s grandnephew and BJP leader Chandra Kumar Bose said on Monday reacting to a Press Information Bureau tweet mentioning August 18 as the death anniversary of the freedom fighter.
The PIB had on Sunday tweeted, “#PIB remembers the great freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on his death anniversary. #Netaji #subhashchandrabose.”
He told PTI that during the declassification of Netaji files in 2016 the Centre had failed to get five Netaji files that are in the possession of the Japanese government.
These files are likely to hold the key to the unravelling of the mystery shrouding the disappearance of the freedom fighter since August 18, 1945, Bose said.
“I am confident that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to unravelling the Netaji disappearance mystery. But I am not sure whether the entire government is interested in doing that. We (Netaji’s family) demand that the prime minister should immediately form a SIT to unravel the mystery,” he said.
“We request Narendra Modi to take up the matter with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe to ensure that the files are declassified. Those files are very crucial to find out the truth,” Bose said.
The SIT should conduct DNA test on the ashes stored at the Renkoji temple in Tokyo and test blood samples, he said.
Bose said since the death of Netaji there have been three inquiry commissions to unravel the truth. Two of them – Shah Nawaz Commission (1956) and Khosla Commission (1970) said that Bose died in an air crash on August 18, 1945 at Taihoku airport in Japanese-occupied Taipei. The third one – the Mukherjee Commission (1999) had said he did not die.
“The divergent views must be looked into,” he added.
Sugata Bose, another grandnephew of Netaji, is of the opinion that Netaji died in the air crash.
The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), the party formed by Netaji in 1939 after quitting Congress, feels the government should immediately take up diplomatic efforts to ensure that files held by governments of different nations are declassified.
AIFB general secretary Debabarat Biswas on Monday demanded the formation of a SIT by the Centre to probe the mystery behind Netaji’s disappearance. (PTI)
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