Declassified files reveal Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose wanted to speak over radio

Kolkata: "For the last one month a rather strange broadcast is being heard over the radio...The broadcast only says 'Neta Subhas Chandra transmitter...Wanted to speak," this was written by Netaji's nephew Amiya Nath Bose in a letter to his brother in 1949 as revealed by one of the secret files on the leader declassified by the West Bengal government.

The letter by Amiya Nath Bose, addressed to his brother Sisir Kumar Bose, based at that time in London, on November 18, 1949, said, "We are getting this broadcast on the shortwave near 16mm. The broadcast only says Neta Subhas Chandra Bose transmitter... Wanted to speak. This sentence is repeated for hours. We do not quite know where it is coming from because that is not announced".

The letter was intercepted by Kolkata Police's intelligence bureau following a government order, according to the declassified files.

A secret report submitted by the central intelligence office, Calcutta to deputy inspector general of police, IB, West Bengal on 25.1.1949 stated, "Sarat Chandra Bose (elder brother of Netaji) inclined to believe from information gathered during his European tour that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was alive and that he is now somewhere in China controlled by the Communist army of China".

Netaji had gone missing in 1945 and some of his family members have rejected the theory that he had died in a plane crash in Taihoku airport in Taiwan on August 18 that year.

The secret files also revealed how snooping was done on Netaji's family members including Sarat Chandra Bose even after independence by the then government.

A secret report sent by deputy commissioner, special branch (1) CID, Bombay to DCP (II), SB, Calcutta in 1949 said, "Mr Sarat Chandra Bose arrived in Bombay on May 11 and flew to Geneva on May 13. He holds passport no 3915/1949".

The file showed that even a letter written by a travel company to Sarat Chandra Bose confirming seats in Air India for travelling to Geneva was intercepted.

Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Bose, when asked whether Netaji died in 1945 in a plane crash, has replied, "A communication from CID Howrah quoting the US and the British intelligence stated that he did not die in a plane crash."

Netaji's family members demanded that the Centre take a cue from the state government and declassify the secret files on Netaji in its own possession.