Cuttack: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's grandnephew, Chandra Kumar Bose, on Sunday urged the NDA government to "ensure that all files, including those of the Intelligence Bureau, on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose are declassified".
Chandra, a Bose family spokesperson and BJP leader, said the NDA government had taken a historic step by ushering in an era of transparency for the first time in Independent India over the mystery of Netaji's disappearance by declassifying 100 files on the leader in January 2016.
However, conclusive and clinching evidence about his purported "death" was yet come to light. "It is imperative for the central government to declassify all files, including those of the Intelligence Bureau, and appoint a high-powered Special Investigating Team (SIT) to scrutinise documents and prepare a report to be placed in both houses of parliament," he said.
Chandra, grandson of Subhas's elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose, is convenor of The Open Platform for Netaji - an open forum that works for declassification of the files.
He said the SIT should visit foreign countries - the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Myanmar - to examine documents, if any, and submit a report to the Centre.
While demanding declaring Netaji's birthday on January 23 as Deshprem Divas or Patriots' Day, Chandra said the Centre should either accept the Justice Mukherjee Commission report or state reasons for its rejection.
He said the report, for the first time, "categorically ruled out any air crash on August 18, 1945, at Taihoku in which Netaji is alleged to have died and also ruled out that the ashes at Renkoji Temple in Japan belonged to Netaji".
"The Centre should conduct a mitochondrial DNA test on the alleged ashes kept at Renkoji Temple to ascertain its authenticity," he said.
He also said: "There is need for scientific research and analysis to ascertain the identification of Bhagwan ji alias Gumnami baba and examine all existing theories to arrive at a logical conclusion to end the Netaji mystery."
