Revealed: What was in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 'treasure box'

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday declassified Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose files at the National Archives of India here.

The digital copies of some of the files released throw a light on the treasure collected from the airfield when a plane, allegedly carrying Netaji, crashed.

The Netaji Inquiry committee made under Shah Nawaz Khan made some observations in this regard. A witness told the committee that the treasure was kept with Munga Rama Murti, the former president of the Indian Independence League in Tokyo, from 1945-51, before it was handed over to the Indian government. The witness also alleged that the box had been tampered with and was much lighter in weight.

The Shah Nawaz committee estimated the value of the box at (then) Rs 1 lakh.

On the Prime Minister's order, the sealed diplomatic bag was opened on October 09, 1978.

The bag had a steel suitcase which contained 17 packages in total:

• 13 packages in yellow envelopes
• 2 in brown paper
• 1 in a small gunny bag
• 1 in a cloth bag

The contents found in the package were damaged due to burning of the bag after the crash. The packages contained, inter alia, gold rings, bracelets (churis, karas), watches, brooches (including one in the shape of charkha), pendants, metals, a lid of golden case, coins, charm pendants, ear-rings, ear-studs, fine gold strips, nose rings, stones.

Notably, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose used to collect cash, gold and jewellery from Indians to finance his armed struggle for Independence.