Netaji files: Don`t perform Subhas Chandra Bose`s shradh, Gandhiji told his family

I do not believe that Subhas died in any air crash, said Mahatma Gandhi.

New Delhi: Amiya Nath Bose, son of Subhas Chandra Bose's elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose, in a letter to then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao dated August 7, 1995 writes: “When Col. Habibur Rahman, who accompanied Netaji in the plane from Saigon was released from prison, he visited Mahatma Gandhi in the Bhangi Colony in Delhi. I was present in the room when Habibur Rahman spoke to Gandhiji about the alleged air crash at the Taikhou Airport on 18th August, 1945.”

As per Amiya Nath, after Rahman left, Gandhiji spoke to journalists assembled there. Gandhiji said, “Habib is carrying out his leader's orders. I do not believe that Subhas died in any air crash.”

“After Domie news agency of Japan announced on 22nd August 1945 that Subhas Bose had died in an air crash, Gandhji immediately sent a telegram to us forbidding the family to perform any sradh ceremony.”  

The Modi government today declassified 100 files relating to the Subhas Chandra Bose at the National Archives on Saturday.