Netaji probe panel to leave for Japan

[ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2002 ]

KOLKATA: Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee commission, looking into the ‘disappearance of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in 1945,’ is leaving for Japan on Thursday.

He will meet Dr Yoshimi Taneyoshi, now in his nineties, who is said to have treated Netaji after the plane crash in 1945. Taneyoshi had been interviewed by the Khosla commission earlier. The commission will also interact with nine other witnesses who are not willing to depose formally before it.

On Friday, commission secretary P. K. Sengupta will also leave for Japan. This is the commission’s second overseas trip. It had been to London in July last year. Netaji’s nephew Forward Bloc MLA Subrata Bose and Dr Madhusudan Pal will be in Japan during the commission’s visit.

Late Sisir Bose’s wife Krishna Bose, a Trinamul Congress MP, too was in Japan last month. This wing of the family believes that Netaji did die in the crash. The other wing, lead by Subrata Bose contend that Netaji was alive in 1946. “We are not saying he is alive today, but he did not die at Formosa,” the MLA said.

Though the commission is yet to decide on a DNA test on the Renkoji ashes, the family feels such a test would yield little. "The fire completely destroyed the temple in the 1980s. There is bound to be foreign materials mixed with it. We have spoken to German DNA specialists and they say tests from ashes may not be possible,” said Chandra Bose, grandson of Sarat Bose, Netaji’s elder brother.

The commission has cancelled the Taipei leg of the tour as it has not been able to collect enough evidence yet on this connection. The commission returns on September 18.

Original Article : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/21907909.cms