Netaji's daughter wants his ashes returned to India

The only child of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose wants to bring her late father's ashes back to India, according to one of Japan's leading newspapers. Anita Bose Pfaff, a professor of economics based in Germany, told 'Yomiuri Shimbun' daily this week that she hopes the debate around the circumstances of the freedom fighter's death can finally be laid to rest. "I want to bring back his ashes to India, which is now an independent nation. Indian independence was his (her father's) ardent wish," the 73-year-old is quoted as saying.

According to Bosefiles.info, a UKbased website set up to catalogue the circumstances around Netaji's disappearances, claims the 'Yomiuri Shimbun' story was published in the context of a 1956 Japanese government investigation report on the death to be made public on Friday.

The same Japanese government investigation report was published by Bosefiles.info on September 1. "The document, which has been treated as classified by the Japanese government, will be available for browsing at the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan," the paper reports.

The document concludes Bose died as a result of a plane crash at Taipei on August 18, 1945. Professor Pfaff was quoted by the paper as saying: "I hope that the new document can end the debate." 'Yomiuri Shimbun' writes: "According to the document (the Japanese government investigation report), which is based on testimonies by witnesses and army physicians who were at his bedside when Bose died, the airplane which Bose was on board crashed at 13:50 on 18 August, 1945, immediately after taking off from Taiwan, where the plane landed for fuelling.

"Bose, who suffered burn injury all over his body, requested 'to treat others before himself' at the army hospital he was admitted to. Despite his request, physicians treated Bose first. However, Bose died at 19:00."

It further reports: "The document also shows the process as to how his ashes and belongings were transported to Japan."

Bose's ashes have reportedly since been preserved at the Japanese capital's Renkoji temple for 71 years. The paper reports the chief priest at this place of worship, Kyozen Mochizuki, "also hopes that the release of the document will lead to (the) return of the ashes to India".-