Mystery Of Subash Chandra Bose’s Death
On 17th August, Subash Chandra Bose left Saigon. On 23rd August, Japan issued a statement, where they talked about the Netaji’s death. They said Netaji died in a plane crash on 18th August 1945. Japan said that after leaving Taipei, as soon as he was leaving for Tokyo, with its colleague Colonel Habibur Rehman, his plane crashed. The Japanese report said that Netaji kept his colleagues in Saigon because he was going on a bomber plane to Tokyo, which was only for two people. Because all the seats were booked by the Japanese, Netaji chose Habibur Rehman as his colleague and told his other colleagues to wait.
After the plane crashed, the plain caught fire. All the people sitting in front, including Subhash Chandra Bose died in the fire. While 7 people, including Habibur Rehman survive the crash The news of Netaji’s plane crash sprit like wildfire. The news was unbelievable to many Indians. They thought it was a way for Netaji to escape from the Allied Powers. Because Netaji had the ability to escape by changing his disguise. In 1941, he escaped from house arrest in Calcutta and eventually reached Nazi Germany via Afghanistan and the Soviet Union. So maybe this time, he used this trick.
The Allied Forces weren’t sure about this. Maybe Netaji was fooling the British and he planned to launch an attack on the British. So on 30 August 1945, a few days after Japan’s official surrender, the British requested Japan to start an inquiry into Netaji’s death. Three weeks later, the Japanese government published the preliminary report. The report said that the plane crashed on 18 August 1945 and the Netaji died that night. The British were happy to hear this news. But many Indians didn’t agree with this news. Another reason was that many of Netaji’s friends in Saigon had never seen his body. The Japanese government didn’t release any official photographs to confirm his death. It also said that Mahatma Gandhi told Netaji is family not to perform the last rites because he is conscience said that Netaji was still alive. So the mystery surrounding Netaji’s death didn’t stop.
In the 1950s, many new theories emerged about Netaji’s death. One theory was that he was a sadhu in a monastery in Bengal. Many of his friends promoted this theory by forming an organization called Subhash Badi Janta. The Janta published many newspapers and magazines about the story. They said that after independence day he, return to India and attended Mahatma Gandhi’s last rites. These theories became more popular because the Indian government didn’t make any official statement. The demand for an official enquiries into Netaji’s death kept increasing. To stop such rumors, in 1956, the government of India decided to start an official investigation into Netaji’s death.
This is Shah Nawaz Khan, a former Major General of the Indian National Army. He was given the responsibility of investigating Netaji’s death. He was given the responsibility because he was a member of the Indian National force and because he knew Netaji’s personally. The Indian government believed that because of this Shah Nawaz Khan reputation, the India’s would accept the results of the investigation. Apart from this, the committee included Netaji’s elder brother, Suresh Chandra Bose, and the Indian civil service’s Asim Maitra. The results of this investigation were published in a large book. Which is still available today.
This report was about to be submitted, but of few days earlier, Netaji’s elder brother Suresh Chandra Bose, refused to sign the report. He claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru had made up his mind about Netaji’s death, and he didn’t want to investigate. He said that’s why he asked Shah Nawaz Khan to lead the investigation, because he and Jawaharlal Nehru had the same idea. He didn’t sign the report, buts are Shah Nawaz Khan and S.N. Maitra submitted the report to the parliament, which was accepted in September 1956. But a month later, Netaji’s elder brother, Suresh Chandra Bose submitted another report, where he said that there was no aircraft accident and Netaji hadn’t died.
Ten years later, in 1966, Suresh Chandra Bose said that his brother would return in March. This was the Mukherjee Commission. And when the first commission s said Netaji’s died in a plane crash, the Mukherjee Commission said wasn’t the case. This is Justice Manoj Mukherjee. He was given the responsibility to investigate the death of Netaji. He said that Netaji’s death didn’t happen in a plane crash, and he said Netaji’s Ashes can’t be found in the Japanese temple.