Netaji family wants SIT to probe disappearance

Some members of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose’s family and The Open Platform for Netaji on Thursday demanded the ruling Central government declassify all files, including of the IB, on the Indian revolutionary and set up a special investigation team to take up the probe of his disappearance on August 18, 1945.

The forum also asserted it would take out a rally on Friday in Kolkata to demand an end to the mystery of the freedom fighter’s disappearance in an alleged plane crash in 1945, in defiance of the West Bengal government’s alleged denial of police permission to hold the march.

“The process (Centre’s decision to declassify Netaji files in January 2016) has started and we want Modi ji to complete the cycle. The SIT would take up the investigation where Mukherjee Commission had ended. We want the government to appoint a high-powered SIT to scrutinise documents released, and prepare a report to be placed in both Houses of Parliament,” Netaji’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose, also the convenor of the platform, told the media here.

The platform demanded the Centre arrange for the SIT’s visit to Russia, Britain, Germany, France, Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Myanmar to examine all relevant files and documents, and submit a report to the government.

Other demands include acceptance of the findings of the Justice Mukherjee Commission, or stating the reasons for its rejection; conducting a mitochondrial DNA test on the ashes alleged to be Netaji’s at the Renkoji Temple in Japan, and ascertaining their authenticity or otherwise, conduct of scientific research and analysis to ascertain the identity of Bhagwanji or Gumnamibaba.