Foreign clues flood Netaji panel

[  SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2004 ]

KOLKATA: The enigma of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’ life and death refuses to die more than a century after his birth. Files and documents have been piling up at the office of the Justice Mukherjee Commission set up to throw light on his disappearance, the latest being excerpts of the Russian Ren TV Channel I telecast that proposes to do a programme on War Secrets with special focus on World II and Netaji.

While introducing the programme to viewers, Professor Felix Urlov, renowned indologist and former member of the erstwhile Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU), has claimed that the archives now under the Russian Federation has several documents on Netaji and his Indian National Army.

This apart, two Russian scholars N. Kolsov and O. Kurnikin, a professor with the university of Altai , have tried to throw light on Bose’s activities during the period under question. And this at a time when Justice Mukherjee Commission is facing a stonewall on the Russian connection. Most of the archives to which the commission had requested for release of information and relevant documents, had turned down the request claiming that nothing was available with them.

The commission had also received favourable response from the Taiwanese government regarding the inquiry. However, India does not have any diplomatic relations with the country and that is affecting the probe. According to sources the commission had to take the help of private agencies for getting documents lying in Taiwan . “The Khosla commission which had earlier probed the matter had also taken a similar course,” said an official.

Earlier, the Taiwanese transport minister and mayor of Taipei had stated that there were no records of any air-crash having taken place between the months of August and October 1945. The commission has established contacts to study the documents available in this connection.

The commission had received a few e-mails regarding the documents available in Taiwan . “The problem is not with taking cognisance of the documents on Netaji coming via e-mail. It is the admissibility of these documents which is important. E-mail can be taken as evidence in certain conditions but there is always a possibility of the evidence being tampered with,” said PK Sengupta, secretary of the commission.

The probe commission had also advertised in the three south-east Asian countries of Thailand , Singapore and Vietnam inquiring about people who could provide any kind of information in this matter. They are yet to receive any favourable response.

Original Article : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/442291.cms