A few articles recovered from the last box that belonged to Gumnami Baba, a monk, who lived incognito in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad town deepens the mystery surrounding Netaji.
Five round shaped specs, similar to the ones used by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, pictures of Indian National Army (INA) secret service officer Pavitra Mohan and some family members of Netaji were among other articles recovered from 26th and the last box that belonged to Gumnami Baba, a monk, who lived incognito in Uttar Pradesh’s Faizabad town and considered by many to be either Netaji or someone who had some links with him.
The process of opening the boxes, which were kept at the treasury office at Faizabad after Gumnami Baba’s death in September 1985, began a few days back by the district officials on the direction of the Allahabad High Court. The retrieval of articles from the last box completed on Thursday, according to the sources.
The owner of the house, where Gumnami Baba lived in Faizabad, Shakti Singh, who also was the special invitee during the entire retrieval process, said that a family photograph of Netaji, three watches, including a pocket watch, and a large number of letters were recovered from the 26th box.
Singh, who was the national president of the Subhash Chandra Bose Rashtriya Vichar Kendra, said that a powerful binocular, which bore “made in Germany” sign, and a few cigar pipes were also found in the box. Some books written in English and Bengali were also found the boxes earlier.
Many other articles which at least proved a deep connection between the Baba and Netaji had been recovered from the boxes. Many, including Singh, believe that Gumnami Baba, whose tomb was situated at Guptar Ghat on the bank of Saryu river in Ayodhya, was in fact Netaji, who lived incognito at Faizabad.
The Mukherjee Commission, which was constituted to probe the circumstances leading to Netaji's death, had opined that there was no “clinching evidence” to prove that Gumnami Baba was Netaji though it had also examined all these articles.