New Delhi
18 September 2005
A 10-member delegation led by Justice MK Mukherjee, who is
heading a one-man inquiry Commission into the circumstances leading to the death of
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, leaves for Russia on Tuesday.
During their 10-day visit to Russia, the delegation comprising All India Forward Bloc's
Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha and Netaji's nephew, Mr Subrata Bose, and
seven other deponents will visit Moscow, St Petersburg, Iksutz and Omsk.
The Commission, which will return home on October 1, will examine the Russian
Government's archives and meet with academics and researchers there. "Indications are
that Netaji was heading for Russia," Mr Subrata Bose told this newspaper.
He said the Japanese had promised to deliver Netaji to Manchuria (northern China)
where Netaji was to make his own arrangements for travelling to Russia. Taiwan has
since declared that no plane crashed on August 18, 1945.
In the wake of Taiwan's assertion, Mr Subrata Bose said, it became all the more
important to visit Russia and examine the archival material available there. Inputs from
this visit will be incorporated in the Commission's report.
The Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee Commission's term will expire on November 14.
The government had given six months' extension on May 14 to the Commission so that
it could also visit Russia.
For the last 60 years now, the death anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is
observed on August 18 every year. A memorial service is organised at the Renkoji
Temple in Tokyo where an urn of ashes, believed to be those of Netaji, is enshrined.
Mr Subratra Bose had met with External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh last year to
request him to ask the government officials to desist from attending such ceremonies.
The minister accordingly instructed the Indian embassy in Japan.
An official of the Indian mission in Tokyo said that the Mukherjee Commission was
conducting an inquiry and it would not be appropriate to send "contradictory signals" by
allowing an official to attend the memorial service.
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