Aurobindo never wrote about this inspite of repeated requests from friends and relatives till he died in 1988 i.e. 47 years after the event, because he said that he was bound by an oath of secrecy of Netaji. This seemed a little odd because some governments release their top secret documents after 30 or 40 years but he was not convinced by that argument.

c. At least 5 or 6 persons in the provisional Government of Azad Hind knew that Netaji was planning to escape to the Soviet Union after the end of the war but only one person Habibur Rahman was chosen to fly with him. He he was the sole Indian witness to the event of his death. Or, was it yet another non-event, as vouched for by Aurobindo on an earlier occasion?

I am not saying that it was, but this possibility cannot be entirely ruled out as one can see a strange similarity in the pattern of the two escape stories.

3. The biggest concern for the Japanese Government in the post-surrender situation was to be "correct" in their behaviour in the eyes of the victorious Allied forces. The Japanese must have known that if it was revealed that they had actively assisted Netaji to go to Manchuria after their formal surrender on 15th August then they would have been accused of "wrong-doing". Therefore, under those circumstances to give a story of his death would have been the safest way out of an embarrassing situation, into which they had been pushed by Subhas Bose and Terauchi.

3. In 1962 when I met Dr. Ba Maw in Rangoon, President of Burma during the war years in, he told me that the Japanese had announced his "death" in an air crash, while he was actually hiding in Japan. While I was in Tokyo in 1994 I asked Mr. Hayashi, who is incharge of the Renkoji Temple, whether he could remember about the announcement of Ba Maw's "death" in 1945, his immediate answer was that it was a fact.

If the Japanese could announce Ba Maw's "death", while he was alive, they would not have hesitated to do the same if they felt the necessity in Subhas Bose's case as well. Again, I am not saying that they actually did it. But it might be possible.

4. There are innumerable gaps in the story of the air crash and death which have been documented in great detail. All these make it almost impossible to provide clinching proof of these events. Should we totally overlook these gaps and come to the conclusion that he died because of other reasons?

In a letter written to my father the late Suresh Chandra Bose, Pandit Nehru wrote on May 13, 1962 : "You ask me to send you proof of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's death. I cannot send you any precise and direct proof." He added that all circumstantial evidence had convinced him and others of the fact that Netaji died.

5. For the last 50 years there has not been any earnest, systematic and impartial enquiry made into the story of the air crash and 'death'. This could not be conducted by any non-governmental organisations and individuals. This could be done only by the Government of India, which had shown no interest in the matter for ten years after the event. When it was pushed to take some action in 1956, it set about it in a questionable manner.