I cannot recall what day and time it was 56 years ago when I, a wireless operator for the Royal Air Force, may have intercepted this Morse code message from Taipei to Tokyo. But I am sure it was a day after Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945 and much before Hindustan Times and other papers announced the reported death of Neatji on August 25.

My colleagues and I used to intercept secret messages from our Palam Air Force Station office.

One day, our British superior walked in and told us that the previous day, sometime in between 7am and 1pm, one of us had intercepted the message that Subhas Bose had died in a plane crash in Taipei.

We Indians used to intercept the Morse code messages, which were later decoded by our British superiors.

We all had nationalist feelings. We all felt bad. And that British officers of ours had all the reasons to be happy. It was yet another good news for them after the surrender of Japan.

I have all along believed that Netaji died in August 1945. It was possible that I had myself intercepted that sinister message. However, I must add that the Japanese would send 'dummy' messages to confuse Ango-American intelligence agencies.

(As told to Anuj Dhar)