Netaji files row: Govt forms committee, family hails PM Narendra Modi

New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday formed a high-level committee to decide whether to declassify the documents related to mysterious disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The inter-ministerial committee will be headed by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth to review the Official Secrets Act in context of Netaji's files.

The first meeting of panel, which consists of representatives of the Ministries of Home and External Affairs, RAW, and Intelligence Bureau, is likely to take place tomorrow, official sources said.

The panel has been formed to look into the classified information on Bose's death and decide which all documents can be made public.

Reports, however, suggest that the government may not declassify those files which risk harming India's ties with some foreign countries.

The development came just two days after PM Modi assured Netaji's grandnephew Surya Kumar Bose that his government will look into the snooping controversy and also assured that he will take positive steps towards declassification of the secret files related to events since Netaji's death or disappearance in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.

Netaji's relative Ardhendu Bose welcomed the government's decision and said the family is grateful to the Prime Minister.

Hailing the government's decision, another relative of Netaji, Chandra Bose said that we are really proud of Modiji.

“Modi is the first PM of India who has taken such positive steps to unravel the mystery,” Bose added.

A huge political storm erupted after it was revealed that the Jawaharlal Nehru government spied on the relatives of the nationalist for nearly two decades.

Intelligence Bureau kept relatives of Subhas Chandra Bose under close surveillance for two decades, most of which was during Jawaharlal Nehru's tenure as Prime Minister, according to archival material, triggering a political controversy.

The IB sleuths intercepted and copied letters written by the Bose family and even trailed them on foreign tours.

A host of Netaji's descendants, enthusiasts, historians and organisations have been campaigning for declassification of secret files claimed to be in the possession of the central and West Bengal governments.

A section of the Bose family and Netaji enthusiasts on Tuesday took out a rally in Kolkata condemning the alleged snooping on family members of the revolutionary leader by successive Congress governments and demanded a judicial probe.

Attended by 100 odd people, the rally also demanded declassification of about 64 files said to be with the West Bengal government and over 100 files with the various central government departments including the prime minister's office.

Is it the country's right to know truth behind Netaji's mysterious disappearance? in Nation on LockerDome