New Delhi: Questions over the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose continue to perplex, the controversy refuses to die down even after decades.
Author and Netaji's nephew Ashis Ray hopes to put the debate to rest with his book "Laid to Rest", which collates the findings of 11 different investigations and concludes that he died on August 18, 1945, in a plane crash in Taipei.
Ray says his book is the white paper on the enduring mystery of when the freedom fighter died.
The book, with a foreword by Netaji's daughter Anita Bose Pfaff, claims to end the controversy once and for all by putting across 11 investigations official and unofficial that arrive at the same conclusion.
The crucial element as to why this matter festered for 72 years is the fact that his brother and mentor, the person who was the real arbiter of this situation, Sarat Bose, died in 1950 leaving unanswered questions.
"My book brings together 11 different investigations four Indian, three Japanese, three British and one Taiwanese which conclude that Netaji died on 18 August 1945 following the plane crash," the London-based author said during the book launch at Bikaner House in New Delhi earlier this week.
Giving details, Ray said the crash took place because the aircraft, which belonged to the Japanese Air Force, was slightly" defective and nosedived as soon it took off from Taipei.
Though Bose came out alive, he died the same evening at the Nanmon Military Hospital.
"There were 13-14 passengers in the plane, and half of them died. Netaji survived for few hours. There were seven survivors, and six of them have repeatedly provided sworn testimonies as to what happened to them and what they saw, and it is something which is entirely undeniable, he said.
Former ambassador Aftab Seth and historian Aditya Mukherjee put their weight behind the evidence presented in the book at the panel discussion, which preceded the formal launch of the book.
The panellists were unanimous in their view that bad politics was the reason mystical theories were doing the rounds even after three-fourths of a century.