Subhas Chandra Bose - Disappearance and Alleged Death

Disappearance and Alleged Death

Bose is alleged to have died in a plane crash at Taihoku (Taipei), Taiwan, on 18 August 1945 while en route to Tokyo and possibly then the Soviet Union. The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Mitsubishi Ki-21 bomber he was travelling on had engine trouble and when it crashed Bose was badly burned, dying in a local hospital four hours later. His body was then cremated, and a Buddhist memorial service was held at Nishi Honganji Temple in Taihoku. His ashes were taken to Japan and interred at the Renkōji Temple in Tokyo. This version of events is supported by the testimonies of a Captain Yoshida Taneyoshi, and a British spy known as "Agent 1189."

The absence of his body has led to many theories being put forward concerning his possible survival. One such claim is that Bose actually died later in Siberia, while in Soviet captivity. Several committees have been set up by the government of India to probe into this matter.

In May 1956, a four-man Indian team known as the Shah Nawaz Committee visited Japan to probe the circumstances of Bose's alleged death. However, the Indian government did not then request assistance from the government of Taiwan in the matter, citing their lack of diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

However, the Inquiry Commission under Justice Mukherjee, which investigated the Bose disappearance mystery in the period 1999–2005, did approach the Taiwanese government, and obtained information from the Taiwan government that no plane carrying Bose had ever crashed in Taipei, and there was, in fact, no plane crash in Taiwan on 18 August 1945 as alleged. The Mukherjee Commission also received a report originating from the U.S. Department of State supporting the claim of the Taiwan Government that no such air crash took place during that time frame.

The Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry submitted its report to the Indian government on November 8, 2005. The report was tabled in Parliament on 17 May 2006. The probe said in its report that Bose did not die in the plane crash, and that the ashes at the Renkoji Temple (said to be of Bose's) are not his. However, the Indian Government rejected the findings of the Commission, though no reasons were cited.

Several documents which could perhaps provide lead to the disappearance of Bose have not been declassified by the Government of India, the reason cited being publication of these documents could sour India's relations with some other countries.

Recently Netaji's grand nephew Sugata Bose in his book His Majesty's Opponent claimed that the founder of the Indian Independence League in Tokyo, Rama Murti had hidden a portion of alleged cremated remains of Bose as "extra precaution" in his house and secondly, this portion has been brought to India in 2006 and Prime Minister was informed about the development. But Prime Ministers Office refused this claim in a statement issued in response to an RTI application, as "As per records, no such information exists."

On the other hand in February 2012 Dr Purabi Roy, A Russian expert and well known research scholar who also held a Chair in St Petersburg University, claimed in her new book "The Search for Netaji: New findings" that Subhas Chandra Bose was in USSR during Second World War. The photograph from Russian State Archive of Film and Photographic Document or RGAKFD, bearing a caption —“Subhas Chandra Bose during Second World War”, is actually scooped out by Dr Purabi Roy. The research strongly suggests that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a ‘war-criminal’ in the eyes of Allied Powers, was in the USSR during the Second World War. Dr Roy is the widow of former Rajya Sabha member Kalyan Roy (CPI), whose father Kiran Shankar Roy was the Law Minister of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy government. She was also a CPI member till early 1990s, and also held a Chair in St Petersburg University. Dr Roy revealed that "she had an opportunity to locate a unique photograph of Subhas Chandra Bose taken during Second World War." Dr Roy, who taught at the Department of International Relations under Jadavpur University for more than two decades, is a scholar in Russian language and history. She incorporated new data in her latest book "The Search for Netaji: New findings".The photograph shows that water room-heaters are in and around Netaji. These Water Room-heaters were in use only in the USSR at that time. She claims that if the photograph is scanned, it might prove that the photograph was taken in Siberia. Interestingly, during Stalin era Russian concentration camps were located in Siberia. According to Dr. Roy, the aforesaid archive had no photographs of any Indian nationalist excepting those of Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. “Keeping in mind Bose’s Russian connection, I found the photograph very interesting”, she stated.

However, it might be too hasty to conclude that Russian ruler Josef Stalin had treated Bose as just another ‘prisoner’ in concentration camp as Stalin was well aware that Netaji had refused to let his Azad Hind Fauz (Indian National Army) soldiers fight along with the Nazi forces against the Russian army. A section of research scholars on the USSR’s role in the Second World War thinks that the Georgia-born dictator did want Bose to be handed over to the war tribunal.

Mystery over Netaji’s disappearance was first revealed by Satyendra Narain Sinha, who went to Japan, Taipei and China to follow the missing links. His article were publishes in a national daily in 1960s. But, Dr. Roy is the first who is claiming that Bose was in Russia. Reportedly Khrushchev had told an interpreter during his New Delhi visit that Bose can be produced within 45 days if Nehru wishes. But, that never happened. the Third Enquiry Commission on Netaji Disappearance, led by Justice Mukherjee, categorically announced Bose did not die at the Taihoku plane crash in 1945 as there was no plane crash during that period in an around the air strip, now in Taipei. Thus the Commission had quashed the so-called urn of Netaji at Renkoji Temple in Tokyo, Japan. It may be recalled that when the ‘news’ of Bose’s death in 1945 reached, Viceroy Wavell quipped, ‘I suspect it very much.”

In 1992, Bose was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, but it was later withdrawn in response to a Supreme Court directive following a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Court against the "posthumous" nature of the award. The Award Committee could not give conclusive evidence on Bose's death and thus the "posthumous" award was invalidated. No headway was made on this issue however. Bose's portrait hangs in the Indian Parliament, and a statue of him has been erected in front of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.