Even in the 1950s, the Government of India knew that the United States and the United Kingdom had much information on Subhas Bose's death in a mysterious air-crash.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had evidently advised Shah Nawaz Khan, head of the Netaji Inquiry Committee, to figure out if the Americans and British knew anything.

www.hindustantimes.com rummaged through the secret files of the Shah Nawaz Committee (which looked into the mystery and produced questionable results) and came across a letter D.O. PS/56/NEC dated June 19, 1956.

Shah Nawaz Khan writes to S Dutt, Foreign Secretary of India.

"Please refer to the Prime Minister's Note No. 24, dated 20-10-1955 para 3, File No. 25/4/NGO (Vol.II) attached, in which he has suggested that 'after this enquiry begins, it might be worthwhile for us to ask the American Embassy and the British High Commission if it is possible for them to give us some information'.

The committee is now in the final stages of writing out the report. It would be very much appreciated if information on the lines suggested above by the Prime Minister could be obtained from the American and British Government.

During the course of his evidence before the Commitee in Tokyo, one Col. F.G. Figges, who is at present employed at the military attaché in the British Embassy in Tokyo, stated that he was in Tokyo in September 1945 as a Staff Officer to General Gairdner, then personal representative of the Prime Minister of the UK attached to Gen. Mac Arthur, and that he had received orders from either the Headquarters of Supreme Allied Commander, S.E. Asia Command, Kandy (Ceylon) or the Director of Millitary Intelligence India, in September 1945 asking him to carry out enquiries in Tokyo and Formosa to ascertain the truth about the story of the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. These enquiries were carried out by him through the agency of the counter Intelligence Corp attached to the Headquarters of the S.C.A.P. (General Mac Arthur) in Tokyo, Japan. Col Figges was positive that a copy of his report would be available with the British Government. He had also sent a copy of his report to the then Government of India (either the Director) of the Military Intelligence, GHQ India or to the Director of intelligence Bureau, New Delhi. It would be very much appreciated if any information of the nature suggested could be obtained from the British and American sources."

General Mac Arthur of the US army arrived in early September 1945 at Formosa (Taiwan), where Netaji reportedly died. Both the US and UK had their own reasons to know what happened to Bose on the afternoon of August 18, 1945.

Subhas Bose, unlike rest of the Congress, was the one to take on the colonial British bull by its horns and in the process was, in theory, at war with the US as well.

Interestingly enough, the letter provides a telltale evidence to the charge that Shah Nawaz did present a shoddy report.

The Prime Minister had asked him to look into this crucial aspect at the onset of the probe, and here he was, writing a letter in the "final stages of writing out the report".