India's biggest cover-up

by Anuj Dhar

  The PM in his reply the next day said the proof was circumstantial, not “precise and direct”:

  To this, Suresh rejoined on 15 June 1962: “Let me know the nature of circumstantial evidence in brief that has convinced you of the fact of the death. I may also be informed of any other proof of his death that may have been in your possession, either through External Affairs Ministry or through our diplomatic missions abroad. This is not only necessary for me, but also for the other members of our family, so that we may know where we stand.”

  June 26. The PM wrote that Shah Nawaz report “gives a number of facts. Our own information conveyed to us by our Ambassadors has been to confirm the facts stated in the report. In addition to this, the mere lapse of time goes to confirm the conclusion arrived at”.

  July 19: Suresh Bose asked the PM if he had ever received a letter from Bose in Russia. He was alluding to then classified April 1946 intelligence report. Nehru gave him a terse reply that he “received no letter from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, nor have I received any letter concerning him on the lines you have mentioned. I do not know about the secret report to which you refer either”.

  On August 8 Suresh Bose wondered what was the information received through diplomatic channels. “As this piece of news, if true, vitally affects all the members of our family, I would respectfully request you to please forward to me the date, place and circumstances under which the alleged death took place as reported to you.”

  The Prime Minister’s 12 August reply took Suresh Bose back to Shah Nawaz-Shankar Maitra’s finding, tersely telling him that he “will find the date, place and circumstances mentioned in that committee’s report”. “Apart from that report, the length of time that has lapsed is itself confirmatory of the fact of his death.” [49]

  In April 1964 the Prime Minister received a letter from Amiya Nath Bose. “People did not accept findings of Shah Nawaz Committee because it did not include any person of high judicial standing,” he wrote, suggesting that “in the national interest there should be a final judicial”inquiry. “It will be in the fitness of things if the Chief Justice of India will agree to preside over a body of judges and inquire into this question.” [50]

  Pandit Nehru’s response would be his last on the Subhas Bose disappearance issue. He passed away almost a month later, leaving people divided as to what was the actual import of his letter.

  3. Enter the Shaulmari sadhu

  In a scene straight out of a 1950s Indian movie, a mendicant quietly knocked at the door of a house in a remote town and got invited for a free lunch by a gracious family. His name was Saradanand and his host, Ramani Ranjan Das, was a general medical practitioner at Falakata in Cooch Behar district of West Bengal. According to an intelligence report, this unexciting event took place in 1959, when India had all but moved away from all mysteries surrounding Subhas Chandra Bose.

  The ensuing developments were not movie-like. Saradanand entered Dr Das’s home, never to part from him. Overruling his aged father’s protests, Dr Das donated all his assets to help Saradanand open an ashram (spiritual hermitage) in the obscure Shaulmari, or Shoulmari, pocket. He quit his practice and his wife and two young daughters joined him in his complete devotion to Saradanand, now also called Shaulmari sadhu (holy man). By 1960, Shaulmari sadhu had become the talk of the nation. He smoked expensive cigarettes and conversed in Bangla and English. Getting an access to him was tough as the ashram administration insisted on tardy bureaucratic procedures. Rumours spread thick and fast that Saradanand was actually Subhas Bose in disguise.

  The state government’s response to the development was that of panic. As and when the numerous secret files on “Shoulmari ashram” kept in the office of the Director, Intelligence Branch, Lord Sinha Road, Kolkata, are made public, it would be observed by even casual researchers that nowhere did any one of the IPS officers chasing the Shaulmari mystique question the raison d'être of inquiring if Saradanand was indeed Subhas Bose. It would seem that all of them had discounted the Government of India’s stand that Bose had died in 1945 and, therefore, there was no way he could be in Shaulmari.

  One of the earliest inquiries into the Shaulmari episode began in September 1961. JK Lahiri, Deputy Commissioner of Cooch Behar, wrote to MM Basu, ICS, Secretary, Home Department, Bengal government that a

  careful watch has been kept by the police on the ashram, but so far it has not been possible for the police to locate and identify the sadhu. The police is still at it. I may point out at this stage that the ashram is not much in the news.

  But soon it was. So much so that one Radhey Shyam Jaiswal, a school teacher, wrote a letter to the Prime Minister. Jaiswal accused Shaulmari sadhu of spreading rumours that he was Subhas Bose and that his ashram was actually a den of foreign agents. In December Lahiri further informed Basu that

  it has so far not been possible to find out the identity of the sadhu. The source of finance of the ashram has also not been located. It may be seen from the report of the Superintendent of Police that two important persons are now associated with the ashram; one is Shri SC Mukherji, a retired civilian, and the other is Shri Niharendu Dutta Majumdar.

  SC Mukherjee was a former ICS officer and Niharendu the same former state law minister who had requested Nehru to inquire into the Bose death issue in 1954.

  February 1962 was the apogee of the Shaulmari episode. In a press conference on February 13, Satya Gupta, a former revolutionary of the group Bengal Volunteers (BV) formed by Subhas Bose, repeatedly harped on Saradanand’s “real” identity while offering no clue about his whereabouts since 1945. “There is no mistake in identifying my master and there is no doubt that Shaulmari sadhuji is Netaji.” [1]

  Backing up Satya Gupta’s claim were the antics of Haripad Bose or Haripada Basu, joint secretary of the ashram. There was apparently a clamour to draw the Prime Minister’s attention to Saradanand. Haripad even sent Pandit Nehru a telegram that his “lost friend” was at Shaulmari. On 19 February 1962 Nishi Katna Banerjee, a former minister in Bose’s government jumped on the bandwagon. He claimed that inquiries made by his former INA and Bengal Volunteers colleagues had revealed that “the sadhu baba there mostly resembles not only in looks but also in capacity and spirit—our Supreme Commander, inimitable Netaji”.

  All this forced the ashram to come out with a clarification. Through a “special declaration” on February 27, Ramani Ranjan Das announced that “the founder of Shaulmari ashram is not Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose nor had he any relationship with Shri Netaji”. Haripad was sacked from the ashram and Niharendu Dutt-Mazumdar briefed newspapers that Saradanand was “an extraordinary person but not Bose”.

  In the meanwhile, the cops continued to inquire. On 1 March 1962, KG Bose, Superintendent Government Railway Police sent a “Top Secret” report to PK Basu, Deputy Inspector General of Police, IB, CID, West Bengal. “Railway intelligence officers are collecting further information in pursuance of the above.” Two April reports chronicled Haripad’s volte-face. The April 2 despatch quoted his speech at Dum Dum in Kolkata, where Haripada declared that Saradanand was Bose.

  He further added that a conspiracy was going on for keeping the people in dark about the existence of Netaji. He pointed out that as result of that conspiracy the late Subrata Mukharji [the Indian Air Force chief Subroto Mukherjee] became the victim when he visited Japan and tried to unearth the mystery of the alleged death of Netaji.

  However on April 14, the same Haripad declared at a meeting in Falakata that he had now “clearly understood that sadhu baba was not Netaji Subhas”. At the same venue, Dutt-Mazumdar slammed the Shah Nawaz Committee report and said he believed that “Netaji is still living in some place”. He said he had met Saradanand and while “there were similarities in appearance with Netaji in some respect, he could not recognise this sadhu as Netaji Subhas”.

  Still, the cops opted for a handwriting test to end the doubts. On April 23, SK Sinha, Special Superintendent of Police, IB, West Bengal, requested J Mukharji, SSP
in the CID division to order a handwriting test. He furnished two pages containing Saradanand’s Bangla writing in pencil. Since no handwriting samples of Bose were available in police records, a copy of a letter published in a newspaper was forwarded along with these two pages. The expert found the samples, specially of Bose’s writing, inadequate, and opined that “under the circumstances, it becomes very much difficult to come to a conclusion without consulting actual script writings”. Still, he could spot the differences between the two writings.

  Three days later the state government released its first press statement on the Shaulmari episode. A strange one actually. Somehow the state government was not able to bring itself around and assert that since Bose had died in 1945—and the Shah Nawaz Committee had confirmed it—the very question whether or not Saradanand was Subhas was ridiculous.

  So far as the Government are concerned, they have had no approach to Srimat Saradanandji and therefore they are not in a position to make any statement themselves… While Government are not in a position to solve this controversy, because of their not having any direct touch with Srimat Saradanandji, they desire to make it clear to everybody that no attempt should be made by any group of people to create a law and order situation in any part of north Bengal over this issue, as this might lead to various complications afterwards.

  On April 26 the IGP of West Bengal was informed through a secret report that one of the visitors to Shaulmari was, lo, Shah Nawaz Khan himself:

  Two persons, whose names I am unable to disclose now, showed me photographs of Shah Nawaz and Saigal, both formerly of the INA, who had recently visited the house of one Dutta in the vicinity of Shaulmari. According to them, Shri Ashrafuddin Ahmed, who was the Secretary of the BPCC when Netaji was the president of BPCC, had visited Shaulmari area recently.

  The intelligence reports continued to trickle in. Interestingly, one of the young IPS officers trying to clear the air was Nirupam Som, grandson of Subhas Bose’s elder sister. On 2 May 1962, Som—later the Police Commissioner of Kolkata—sent an account of his meeting with Satya Gupta. Nirupam was not convinced by Satya Gupta's deposition. "I must confess that he talked in a most incoherent manner and the reasons put forward by him appeared to be simply childish," he wrote. Som wondered where Saradanand had been since 1945. But Gupta "avoided this question and merely stated that he had discussed everything with Netaji and was not prepared to reveal his discussion outside".

  In July another chapter was added with Uttam Chand Malhotra, someone who had played a prominent role in Bose’s escape in 1941, taking up the place vacated by Satya Gupta and Haripad. Meeting Saradanand convinced Malhotra that he was Bose and he began a decade-long propaganda under the aegis of a group called Subhasbadi Janata. Teaming up with Malhotra was another former Bengal Volunteers activist Hira Lal Dixit. Saradanand despised Uttam Chand and others of his ilk for whatever they propagated. A 17 November 1962 radiogram sent to the head of West Bengal intelligence by the Superintendent of Police, DIB, Jalpaiguri, Nirupam Som, reported that a day earlier Saradanand “came out and proceeded along the national highway in a taxi” and “at the sight of the sadhu on the way some members of Subhasbadi Janata applauded him shouting Netaji zindabad but the sadhu abused them in filthy language”.

  In 1963, the matter was being agitated in New Delhi. Atal Bihari Vajpayee drew the PM’s attention in the Rajya Sabha on August 22 over the “propaganda carried on by some self-appointed persons and organisations” and asked “whether any inquiry has been made?”

  “We are aware of such propaganda which was carried on. It has faded now more or less,” Nehru replied. “But such inquiries we have made and the Government of West Bengal have made have conclusively established that Swami Saradanand is not Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and he himself denies it absolutely.”

  One such inquiry had been carried out by Rajya Sabha MP Surendra Mohan Ghose, in association with Jalpaiguri MP NR Ghosh, after Prime Minister Nehru personally directed him to do so. Surendra Ghose went to Shaulmari ashram on 11 September 1962 and met Saradanand face to face. Ghose asked Saradanand who he was before he renounced the world. “I cannot give my identity of purbashram. But why should people make such mistake? You can see for yourself that I am not Netaji,” he said. “Can anybody mistake me for Netaji?” Saradanand asked. Ghose replied: “Not he, who saw Netaji alive and knew him.” Saradanand nodded. "See nobody would deny his own father. I told Satya (Major Satya Gupta of BV) that I was not the son of Janaki Nath Bose."

  Ghose was now seeing a Chinese and Communist Party of India hand in the canard. He told Saradanand:

  About three years back when you first came here there was some whisper that you were Netaji. As soon as I came to know about it, I alerted all concerned that it might be part of a Chinese plan to spread, with the help of the Indian Communist Party, this rumour and at a psychological moment invade India with her army. [2]

  On 4 October 1962 Ghose submitted to the Prime Minister a report—whose flattering introductory letter compared Nehru to Ram, Krishan and Buddha. More germane was his conclusion at the end the report that

  this man is not Subhas Bose. I wonder, how he could be confused with Subhas by people who knew him. …It would have been much better for the Sadhu himself to disclose his antecedents. However, I have no doubt in my mind that this Sadhu has nothing to do with Subhas Bose. [3]

  But who really was Shaulmari sadhu? A still secret file of the West Bengal government has the possible answer. Ashok Chakrabarti, Superintendent of Police, Cooch Behar made a trip to his ashram in December 1961 to uncover Saradanand’s real identity.

  His findings were subsequently despatched to PK Basu, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Intelligence Branch. “I have got some secret information about the identity of the sadhu,” Chakrabarti wrote in a memo, adding that one source

  has been able to identify the sadhu as Shri Jatin Chakrabartti of Vigna, Meher near Comilla, Victoria College and was a member of the revolutionary party. He was charged for the murder of Mr Davis, District Magistrate, Comilla and since the [time of the murder] has been absconding. He was clearly related with Anushilan Party and was a chain smoker. We have also got information that the present sadhu of Falakata is a chain smoker. The identifier who was able to recognise him visited the ashram and his recognition was instantaneous. On seeing the sadhu he cried out “Jatinda na” and the sadhu became visibly moved.

  He cited several reasons for drawing this conclusion before suggesting that Jatin’s picture be shown to those who had seen the sadhu. The SP clearly discounted alternative theory that the sadhu was “not Jatin Chakrabartti but Abhinash Bhattacharji of Anushilan Party”.

  Physical features of both being in many ways similar, this confusion has arisen. But major part of the evidence available goes to prove that the sadhu of Falakata is Shri Jatin Chakrabartti, a political absconder.

  If this was the truth of Shaulmari, what lay behind the intrigue to advertise him as Subhas Bose?

  A revolting view was to gain ground that the sadhu had been propped up at the Government’s behest to befuddle the public, take their attention away from the Bose mystery and to even discredit it. The biggest proponent of this school of thought was Subhas’s nephew and freedom fighter Dwijendra Nath Bose. At Shaulmari ashram, to his utter shock, Dwijendra bumped into persons no less than Director of Intelligence Bureau (DIB) BN Mullik and his officially retired deputy GK Handoo, whose one-time assignment was to catch spies. Dwijendra came to believe that

  this is being done to bewilder the people with the names of these sadhus… There are three sadhus today running in the name of Netaji. The people who propagate that these sadhus are Netajis are all financed by the Government. [4]

  Backing this point of view was an intrepid reporter. Barun Sengupta’s own enquiries led him to believe that Shaulmari sadhu had been set up by the Intelligence Bureau.

  I had no belief in this from the very beginning, but as a reporter I had to go and investigate. I went to the lo
cal intelligence people, the State Intelligence Bureau as it is called, the intelligence branch of the West Bengal Police. I asked one of the chief men who was supposed to be dealing with this section, ‘What is this about Shaulmari?’

  Barun Sengupta was told that BN Mullik was “also entrusted with the Netaji Inquiry affair”.

  “I was told by so many intelligence officers working in the eastern region of the country that it is Mr Mullik who looks after all these things…I never talked to Mr Mullik and I knew that Mr Mullik will not tell me anything,” Sengupta added. “Mr Chaliha, Mr PC Sen and Dr BC Roy knew certain things. There are certain things which do not go beyond the Chief Minister’s level.”

  The crux of Sengupta’s enquiry was that the IB knew “fully well...about many saints and monks masquerading as Netaji” and that it was on a constant lookout for “dead” Bose.

  Whenever there is a rumour or a story, the central intelligence people and the state intelligence people go and investigate into it. They also come to us [journalists] for further enlightenment and to know whether we have any information. [5]

  Barun Sengupta, who died in 2008, made a name for himself as the founder-editor of leading Bengali daily Bartaman. Still secret IB records prove him right to an extent. Long after the Shaulmari episode had petered out, the IB at a fairly senior level was still keeping an eye on Shaulmari sadhu. A memorandum dated 18 December 1968 from a joint assistant director says that he was spotted in Amarkantak in Madhya Pardesh. Another one from October 1969 gives an update on his movements. The sender, IB Assistant Director Sarat Chandra, informed SP, Intelligence Branch, West Bengal that the IB had lost track of him after February 1969 and requested for any new update.