SEVEN YEARS and crores later, the Mukherjee Commission on Wednesday gave its opinion: Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose did not die in an air crash in Taihoku, Taipei, on August 18, 1945. Rubbish, said the government and trashed the panel’s conclusions.
The commission’s report was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday. Two of its key conclusions — Netaji did not die in the plane crash and the ashes in Renkoji Temple in Japan were not of the freedom fighter — flies in the face of inferences of earlier panels set up to probe Bose’s mysterious disappearance. This, home ministry sources said, was the primary compulsion behind rejection of the report.
The Shah Nawaz Khan Committee in 1956 and the G.D. Khosla Commission in 1970 had inferred that Netaji had died in the Taihoku plane crash. The Khosla Commission had even observed that Netaji's ashes had been taken to Tokyo. The Mukherjee panel, on the other hand, has failed to address one of its important terms of reference — to ascertain how and when Netaji died. It merely observed that in absence of any clinching evidence an answer cannot be given as to how, when and where Netaji died. Visits to Taipei and examination of various documents indicated there was no air crash in Taihoku on August 18, 1945, the day Netaji is supposed to have died, the panel said. On whether the ashes in Renkoji Temple were Netaji's, the commission said the ashes were not his primarily because the ashes could not be inspected properly and a DNA test could not be conducted.
The issue which the commission appears to have settled is that Netaji is dead. The freedom fighter was born on January 23, 1897 (more than 108 years ago).
{{/usCountry}}The issue which the commission appears to have settled is that Netaji is dead. The freedom fighter was born on January 23, 1897 (more than 108 years ago).
{{/usCountry}}The average life span of an Indian is 70 to 75 years and therefore, it is improbable for him to be alive. “Since the two previous committees and commissions have already concluded that Netaji died in the crash, there was no logic in accepting the Mukherjee commission’s observation which was contrary to the earlier findings. Then, Mukherjee commission even failed to answer the important question that if Netaji did not die in the crash how exactly did he die,” a senior official said.