India's biggest cover-up

by Anuj Dhar

  [36]. Extract from the statement of Bhaskar Menon @ Basi, received with AD (X)'s memorandum no DIB/P 19 dated 23 October 1945. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [37]. Report dated 6 November 1945 from SACSEA Commission No 1. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [38]. Report dated 12 November 1945 from PES Finney. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [39]. Extract from written statement by Watanabe, Kinji. File no INA 273, the National Archives of India, New Delh.

  [40]. Letter No UB/DO/4 dated 22 November 1945 from Saigon Control Commission to OC CSDIC (I). File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [41]. Letter No 310/B1269 dated 7 January 1946 from CSDIC to Combined Section and IB. Khosla Commission exhibit No 23 A obtained under RTI.

  [42]. Ibid.

  [43]. Letter No ST/12 dated 15 January 1946 from S Section, SEAC, to CSDIC. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [44]. Letter dated 19 February 1946 from W Mck Wright to Majour Young. File no INA 273, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [45]. Ibid.

  [46]. Report by Counter Intelligence Corps, GHQ, AFPAC, Tokyo dated 29 September 1945. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [47]. CSDIC (India) report No 2, section report No 1156 dated 31 December 1945. File no INA 249, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [48]. Letter dated 19 February 1946 from W Mck Wright to Major Young. File no INA 273, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [49]. Letter No C5, dated 19 February 1946 from W Mck Wright to Major Young. File no INA 273, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [50]. Ibid.

  [51]. Extract from letter No SLO/CC/1 dated 1 March 1946 from Major Young of CICB to W Mck Wright, IB, New Delhi. File no INA 273, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [52]. Letter dated 19 February 1946 from GS Branch, MI Directorate to Lt Col Anderson. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [53]. Letter No ST/12/104 dated 28 February 1946 from S Section CSDIC (I) to Comdt, CSDIC, Red Fort. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [54]. Letter No C-5/ CD dated 9 March 1946. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [55-58]. Letter No 1300/SE dated 21 March 1946. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [59-62]. Letter No 1400/23/SE dated 25 March 1946. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [63]. IPI series, Document No L/PJ/12/217, The British Library, Oriental and India Office Collections, London.

  [64-67]. Copy of note numbered C-4, Part IV, dated 8 April 1946. File no INA 273, National Archives, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [68]. Letter No 1400/23/SE dated 10 April 1946. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [69]. Re-interrogation of Capt Habib-ur-Rahman dated 9 April 1946. File no INA 400, the National Archives of India, New Delhi. Malik erroneously dated the report to 9.6.46.

  [70]. Ibid.

  [71]. Is Netaji Alive? Mahatma Gandhi Collected works, Volume 90, 30 March 1946. Accessed from http://ltrc.iiit.ac.in/gwiki/index.php/Collected_Works/Volume_90/Is_Netaji_Alive%3F_%2830th_March_1946%29.

  [72]. Airgram no A-175 dated 23 May 1946 from American Consulate General (Bombay) to the Secretary of State. Record Group 319, file No. X8083767, the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.

  [73]. Ibid.

  [74]. Airgram no A-78 dated 28 June 1946 from the State Department to the US Consulate General in Bombay. Record Group 319, file No. X8083767, the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.

  [75]. Report on the death of Subhas Chandra Bose, Office of military adviser, 25 July 1946. Record Group 319, file No. X8083767, the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.

  [76]. Ibid.

  [77]. Statement of Yoshimi Taneyoshi dated 19 October 1946. File no INA 249, the National Archives of India, New Delhi.

  [78].Report on the death of Subhas Chandra Bose, Office of military adviser, 25 July 1946. Record Group 319, file No. X8083767, the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.

  [79]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume VI, pp 2160, 2212-13, 2426.

  [80]. Letter dated 22 July 1946 from Khurshed Naroji to Louis Fischer, Seeley G Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University.

  [81]. Note of Louis Fischer's conversation with Pietro Quaroni dated 15 November 1946, Seeley G Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University.

  [82]. Subhas Chandra Bose, 22 November 1950, MIS No 733556. Released by the Central Intelligence Agency under the Freedom of Information Act to the writer.

  2. Big brother watching

  [1]. The Collected Works of Sardar Vallabbhai Patel, Chief Editor PN Chopra, 1998, Vol XIV, p. 267.

  [2]. File No INA 273, the National Archives of India, New Delhi. See document titled “Notes on Subhas Chandra Bose” refering to the Chinese Central News Agency release carried by the Bombay Chronicle on 9 December 1946.

  [3]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 DD obtained under RTI.

  [4]. Ibid.

  [5]. Suresh Bose, Dissentient Report, Appendix BB.

  [6]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 V obtained under RTI.

  [7]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 AA obtained under RTI.

  [8]. Copy of Debnath Das’s letter cum report dated 27 March 1953 to Leela Roy.

  [9]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 AA obtained under RTI.

  [10]. SA Ayer, Unto him a witness, pp 273, 274, 285.

  [11]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 T obtained under RTI.

  [12]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 S obtained under RTI.

  [13]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 R obtained under RTI.

  [14]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 Q obtained under RTI.

  [15]. New testimony in Bose case, Nippon Times, 20 September 1955.

  [16]. Ibid.

  [17]. Ibid.

  [18]. Netaji Inquiry Committee Report, Government of India press, New Delhi, 1956, pp 9, 10.

  [19]. Ibid, p. 34.

  [20]. Ibid, pp 2, 3.

  [21]. Ibid, p. 34.

  [22]. Ibid, p. 39.

  [23]. Ibid, p. 19.

  [24]. Ibid, p. 23.

  [25]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 F obtained under RTI.

  [26]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 E obtained under RTI.

  [27]. Suresh Bose, Dissentient Report, 1961 edition published by Suresh Bose himself.

  [28]. Ibid.

  [29]. Netaji Inquiry Committee Report, Government of India press, New Delhi, 1956. See “Principal points agreed to for draft report, dated 30th June 1956” on page 67.

  [30]. Ibid.

  [31]. Ibid, pp 67-68.

  [32]. Ibid, p. 68.

  [33]. Suresh Bose, Dissentient Report.

  [34]. PM’s letter No 414-PMO/56 as reproduced in Dissentient Report.

  [35]. See Appendix G of Dissentient Report for the text of letter Suresh Bose wrote to the Prime Minister on 15 August 1956.

  [36]. Excerpted from the record of the examination of Suresh Bose and Dwijendra Nath Bose before Khosla Commission.

  [37]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume II, p. 729.

  [38]. Netaji Inquiry Committee Report, Government of India press, New Delhi, 1956, p. 61.

  [39]. Ibid, p. 34.

  [40]. Ibid, p. 61.

  [41]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume I, p. 101. [42]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 C obtained under RTI.

  [43]. Inward Telegram to Commonwealth Relations Office, 3 May 1956, Document No C 1852/1, the National Archives, Kew.

  [44]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 29 B obtained under RTI.

  [45]. Ref c 1852/6, File no. FO 371/121012, AAE Franklin to Far Eastern Department, the National Archi
ves, Kew.

  [46]. Taiwan Provincial Government's report to AAE Franklin, Her Majesty's Consul at Tamsui in the same file available at the National Archives, Kew.

  [47]. Suresh Bose, Dissentient Report, p. 181.

  {48]. Quoted from the record of the HV Kamath’s examination before Khosla Commission on 31 May 1972.

  [49]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 30 A to 30 H obtained under RTI.

  [50]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 30 X obtained under RTI.

  3. Enter the Shaulmari sadhu

  [1]. Ranjeet Panchalay, Bhumigat Subhas, p. 55.

  [2]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 30(M)(2) obtained under RTI.

  [3]. Khosla Commission exhibit No 30(M)(1) obtained under RTI.

  [4]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume XI, p. 3386.

  [5]. Ibid. Excerpted from the evidence tendered by Barun Sengupta on 6 July 1972.

  4. Shooting star Samar Guha

  [1]. Dr Satyanarayan Sinha, Netaji mystery, Prakash Chandra Saha, Grantham, 1965, p. 12.

  [2]. Ibid, p. 123.

  [3]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume IX, pp 2876-77.

  [4]. Lok Sabha unstarred question no 855, 1 August 1966 & Rajya Sabha unstarred question no 266, 2 August 1966.

  [5]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume IX, p. 2816.

  [6]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume IX, p. 3070.

  [7]. Govt may order fresh probe on Netaji, Hindustan Times, 7 March 1960.

  [8]. Khushwant Singh, End of a long friendship, The Telegraph, 25 June 2011.

  [9]. Ibid.

  [10]. Motilal C Setalvad ,My Life: Law and other things, Universal Law Publishing Company, New Delhi, 1970, p. 508.

  [11]. VN Datta, Did Netaji actually die in 1945? The Tribune, 19 August 2001.

  [12]. GD Khosla, Last days of Netaji, 1974, Thomson press, p. 3.

  [13]. VN Datta, Did Netaji actually die in 1945? The Tribune, 19 August 2001.

  [14]. Opening Day’s session ends on dramatic note, The Times of India, 17 October 1970.

  [15]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume II, pp 738, 741-42.

  [16]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume I, p. 102.

  [17]. Excerpted from Report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose (headed by Justice GD Khosla), 1974, pp 124-125.

  [18]. Excerpted from Report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, 1974, pp 32, 48, 49, 55, 94, 95 and para 4.81.

  [19]. Ibid, p. 53.

  [20]. Netaji Inquiry Committee Report, Government of India press, New Delhi, 1956, p. 43.

  [21]. Report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, 1974, para 4.78.

  [22]. Ibid, p. 31.

  [23]. Ibid.

  [24]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume V, pp 1915-16.

  [25]. Ibid. Volume VI, pp 1992-93.

  [26]. Netaji Inquiry Committee Report, Government of India press, New Delhi, 1956, p. 2.

  [27]. Ibid, p. 65.

  [28]. Item no 12, series B5555O. Extract from communication intelligence, Top Secret 091927 August, 1943, Berlin (Oshima) to Tokyo 30th July, National Archive of Australia, Melbourne Office.

  [29] Col Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon, From my bones, Aryan Book International, New Delhi, 1998, p. 480.

  [30]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume IX, pp 2816-18.

  [31]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume IX, p. 3068.

  [32]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume VI, pp 2369-2370.

  [33]. Ibid, p. 2370.

  [34]. Ibid, p. 2384.

  [35]. Report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, 1974, p. 37.

  [36] Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume VI, p. 1988 obtained under RTI.

  [37]. Typed copy of the handwritten note to SA Ayer’s report which was produced before Khosla Commission.

  [38]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume VI, pp 1994-95.

  [39]. Ibid, pp 2336-37.

  [40]. Netaji Inquiry Committee Report, Government of India press, New Delhi, 1956, pp 43.

  [41]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume VI, pp 2420, 2423, 2425, 2430, 2433, 2437-38, 2442 and 2243.

  [42]. Ibid, pp 2118, 2143, 2162.

  [43]. Ibid, p. 2254.

  [44]. Report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, 1974, pp 93-94.

  [45]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume VI, p. 2283.

  [46]. Ibid, pp 2305-6, 2321-22 and 2324.

  [47]. Report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, 1974, p. 33.

  [48]. Ibid, p. 44.

  [49]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume VI, p. 2418 obtained under RTI.

  [50]. Ibid, pp 2465-66, 2467-68, 2476.

  [51]. Report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, 1974, p. 119.

  [52]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume VI, pp 2449-50 obtained under RTI.

  [53]. Ibid, p. 2287.

  [54]. Ibid, p. 2452.

  [55]. 26 MPs want Khosla to visit Taiwan, Hindustan Standard, 27 May 1972.

  [56]. From a manuscript discovered at the residence of Samar Guha after his death. It was subsequently published in Bangla journal Jayasree, which Guha had edited in the 1990s.

  [57]. Based on the account in “Netaji: Dead and alive” and talks with Sunil Krishna Gupta.

  [58]. Report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, 1974, p. 42.

  [59]. Record of proceedings of Khosla Commission obtained under RTI, Volume XVII, pp 4662-63.

  [60]. Ibid, p. 4664.

  [61]. Ibid. Volume I, pp 167, 387-88.

  [62]. The record of proceedings of Khosla Commission covering the argument session is yet to be released by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the RTI act to applicant Chandrachur Ghose despite his getting the clearance from the CIC quite some time back.

  [63]. Report of the one-man Commission of Inquiry into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, 1974, p. 41.

  [64]. Ibid, pp 41, 43.

  [65]. Ibid, p. 42.

  [66]. Ibid, p. 41.

  [67]. Barun Sengupta, The mystery of Netaji's disappearance, Ananya Prokashan, 1979, Kolkata, translated from the original “Netajiir antardhan rahashya” by Shyamal Banerjee, p. 2.

  [68]. Ibid, p. 94.

  [69]. Ibid, p. 108.

  [70]. Ibid, p. 1.

  [71]. Top Secret Enclosure to No 57, Transfer of Power, Volume VI, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, pp 138-140.

  [72]. Ibid, p. 405.

  [73]. Netaji portrait now adorns Central Hall, Hindustan Times, 24 January 1978.

  [74]. Larry Collins and Dominque Lapierre, Mountbatten and the Partition of India, Volume I, Vikas Publishing House, 1982, p. 4.

  [75]. Samar Guha, Netaji-dead or alive? Calcutta Book House, Fourth enlarged edition, 1997, pp 299-300.

  [76]. Goray’s request to Mountbatten, The Statesman, 9 March 1978.

  [77]. Samar Guha, Netaji-dead or alive? Calcutta Book House, Fourth enlarged edition, 1997, p. 299.

  [78]. Netaji is still alive: Prof Guha, Nagpur Times, 13 March 1978.

  [79]. Reddy hints at another bid to unravel Netaji mystery, The Times of India, 9 March 1978.

  [80]. Based on Samar Guha’s account in the 1990 edition of his book.

  [81]. Netaji alive
, coming any day: Guha, Hindustan Times, 23 January 1979.

  [82]. Ibid.

  [83]. Netaji alive, claims Janata MP, The Hindu, 23 January 1979.

  [84]. Netaji alive, coming any day: Guha, Hindustan Times, 23 January 1979.

  [85]. Netaji is alive, claims Guha, Amrita Bazar Patrika, 23 January 1979.

  [86]. Netaji is alive, says Samar Guha, Indian Express, 23 January 1979.

  [87]. Netaji is alive, claims Guha, Amrita Bazar Patrika, 23 January 1979.

  [88]. Ibid.

  [89]. Netaji alive, coming any day: Guha, Hindustan Times, 23 January 1979.

  [90]. Ibid.

  [91]. Netaji is alive, says Samar Guha, Indian Express, 23 January 1979.

  [92]. Ibid.

  [93]. Ibid.

  [94]. Netaji alive, coming any day: Guha, Hindustan Times, 23 January 1979.

  [95]. Netaji is alive, says Samar Guha, Indian Express, 23 January 1979.

  [96]. Netaji is alive, claims Guha, Amrita Bazar Patrika, 23 January 1979.

  [97]. Partha Sarathi Gupta (editor), Towards Freedom: Documents on the movement for independence in India 1943-1944, OUP, 1997, p. 2797.

  [98]. Ibid.

  [99]. Towards Freedom: Documents on the movement for independence in India 1943-1944, Part-III, OUP, 1997, p. 2801.

  [100]. Netaji not alive, says Morarji, Indian Express. 6 July 1983.

  5. A proper inquiry at last

  [1]. MK Tikku, India has done too little for Netaji, feels daughter, Hindustan Times, 23 January 1998.

  [2]. AIR 1997 Supreme Court 3019. Special Leave Petition (C) No 628 of 1994 with Transferred Case (C) No 7 of 1994 D/4.8.1997.

  [3]. Ibid.

  [4]. Dr Purabi Roy in private talks with the writer. She has also written the same.

  [5]. From the translation appearing in journal Mainstream on 19 July 1997 under heading “A Russian Tribute to Netaji Subhas”.

  [6]. Tapash Ganguly, Netaji Mystery: The lost hero, The Week, 21 July 2002.

  [7]. John F Burns, India rehabilitates wartime leader who fought for Japan, The New York Times, 24 January 1997.

  [8]. Calcutta High Court WP No 1805 of 1997.

  [9]. Calcutta High Court WP No 281 OF 1998.

  [10]. Disappearance of Netaji—Advani asked to reopen probe, The Statesman, 12 August 1998.

  [11]. Historians dismiss Netaji death probe, Indian Express, 29 March 1999.