Netaji kin demand SIT probe from Prime Minister Modi

Reviving the demand for declassification of files related to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and his mysterious disappearance, members of the freedom fighter’s family have approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the matter.

Talking to Deccan Herald, Netaji’s grand-nephew and convener of the Open Platform for Netaji (OPFN), Chandra Kumar Bose, said a large section of the family continues to believe that he did not die in the plane crash over Taiwan in 1945, that and they would like a significant number of files with the Indian government declassified.

Netaji was declared killed in an air crash over Taipei on August 18, 1945.

“We, on behalf of OPFN, wrote to the Prime Minister's Office  on Thursday, seeking rectification of distorted written history concerning Bose and the freedom movement. The platform comprises a host of Netaji’s descendants and researchers who have been steadfastly campaigning for declassification of the secret Netaji files,” said Bose.

While millions of people across India doubt the circumstances of Netaji’s death, and numerous commissions have been set up since Independence, nothing could be ascertained about his whereabouts.

“The prime minister has asked for a proposal from us regarding what the Centre can do for our declassification campaign. Accordingly, we have sent a detailed proposal that includes formation of a SIT to probe his disappearance,” said Bose.

In their letter to Modi, the platform has also urged that the SIT be headed by a leading Supreme Court judge, with its members being historians, researchers and officials from relevant Central departments and agencies, including the IB, the CBI and the Ministry of External Affairs. “We want the SIT to scrutinise all the declassified documents, besides interviewing and cross-examining witnesses and people concerned,” he added.

The platform further demanded that “the existing distortions in the written history” of the Indian freedom struggle be rectified and a fuller and more accurate history, including the roles of revolutionaries like Netaji, Rashbehari Bose, Bhagat Singh and Jatin Das, among others, be documented in school and college textbooks.