By Shali Ittaman

Two of the Indian National Army (INA) greats Col Lakshmi Sehgal and Col Habibur Rehman had information on Subhas Bose's activities in August and September of 1945, but concealed it from the world.

They kept repeating concocted stories until one of them was caught lying on tape (during proceedings of Mukherjee Commission) and the other's sketches of the crashed plane gave him away.

Though Col Lakshmi and Col Habib were Bose's trusted lieutenants and were part of the Azad Hind Government, their participation in the design to mystify Subhas Bose's disappearance, throws up disturbing pointers.

For instance, Col Lakshmi kept insisting in public that she neither suspected nor knew anything 'about Netaji's activities post August 18, 1945'. She, however, had first hand information that 'American Intelligence Officers' had followed Bose up to the Russian borders after the 'supposed crash'.

In a tape recorded interview with V P Saini, a researcher who spent 30 years documenting information on Subhas Bose, she said that American agents in the guise of War Correspondents had interviewed her extensively, at the end of which they told her that Bose had crossed over to Russia. She said: "They followed a person, whose physical description answered to that of Netaji."

She was also privy to a conversation with Bose's secretary Abid Hasan who had reasons to suspect that Bose was being held a prisoner in Russia. She also knew of a British historian who claimed Pt Jawaharlal Nehru had written to Mountbatten "Netaji should not be allowed to return until India is partitioned".

Despite the importance of these leads and their implications, she never divulged them publicly. In fact, during her deposition before the Mukherjee Commission, which is currently probing Netaji's disappearance, she kept backing the official version of Bose's death: "I'm certain Netaji died in the air crash."

It was not until Mr Saini played back the tape record of her conversation with him, that she retracted from her stand and thereby indicated that she had more news. This was despite the fact that before her cross-examination she had sworn to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.

Col Habibur Rehman, on the other hand, had never retracted from his position as long as he lived. He maintained that Bose and he were co-passengers in the fateful Japanese bomber, which crashed and eventually killed Netaji. However, many times, during official briefings and private interviews, he kept contradicting himself on the details of the accident.

For instance, during the 1946 interrogation, British Intelligence officers drew an elaborate sketch showing the insides of the bomber and the seating positions of the passengers, based on Habibur Rehman's statements. The sketch was at variance with the sketch produced by Shah Nawaz Khan Committee after they cross-examined Col Habib in 1956.

Sheila Sengupta, Bose's niece, also remembers Col Habib's volte-face when her family met him in the years after the crash. During the meeting, those present had wondered why the Colonel's upper arm was burnt whereas his inner arm bore no signs of burns. This despite his asserting that he had tried to pull Bose through the fire. When Bose's maternal uncle Satyen Dutt questioned him, a flustered Col Habib had said: "I have nothing else to add".

Though their loyalty to the INA and Subhas Bose can and will never be questioned, why the two personalities put their weight behind 'the crash story' is something that will remain to be determined.