Send team to UK, Russia to access files, Netaji family members to write to Modi

Family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose are all set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urge him to form a high-powered team to access secret files from countries like UK and Russia.

Family members also want to be a part of the team and will shortly send a letter to the PM. They will also seek an appointment with Modi to discuss their proposal.

This section of the family are unmoved after the recent revelation of Japanese files that supported the view that the leader indeed died of the burns he sustained when the plane carrying crashed in August 1945.

“Crucial files are with governments in Russia, England, Austria, Germany and Japan. We would request the Prime Minister to form a team to visit these countries and access the files. The Prime Minister has already written to these countries which are slow in their response,” Chandra Bose, Netaji’s grandnephew, told HT.

Read: Japan confirmed Netaji’s death a month after Taipei crash

“The high-powered team can have officers from the intelligence department, foreign affairs department, Prime Minister’s Office and others. We would also like to be a part of the team. We will send our representatives. The team would also have to co-ordinate with Indian embassies. The process of declassification of files in India is on but we want all files related to Netaji to come out and solve the mystery of his disappearance,” added Chandra Bose.

Chandra said that the Justice Mukherjee Commission visited Russia but was not allowed to see the secret KGB files. “Justice Mukherjee came back and wrote to the then central government but there was no response.

However, the present government is trying hard to unravel the mystery behind Netaji’s disappearance. This is the right time we should go to Russia and find out the files ourselves,” added Chandra.

The Mukherjee Commission was constituted in 1999 to inquire into the death of Netaji. After a seven-year inquiry, justice Manoj Mukherjee concluded that Subhas Bose did not die in the plane crash.

Similarly, Netaji’s kin want teams to be sent to England, Japan, Austria and even China. They are of the opinion that the files with secret services of these foreign countries are coded. “These coded files should be retrieved,” added Bose, who contested from Bhawanipore constituency as a BJP candidate in the 2016 assembly polls in Bengal.

Read: PM releases Netaji files; Mamata wants ‘leader of nation’ title for Bose

The majority of the family members believe that Netaji did not die in a plane crash in Taipei in August 1945.

Family members believe that only files with Indian agencies will not be able to shed light of what they believe is Netaji’s disappearance.

In September 2015, Mamata Banerjee declassified 64 secret files on Netaji, which were in the custody of Bengal government. Family members of Netaji visited Prime Minister in Delhi on October last year, where Modi announced complete declassification of secret files of the national hero. The process started from January 23 this year.