Netaji case: Modi may sound out CIA & KGB

That may involve going to intelligence agencies like the CIA and KGB, which many believe, may provide clues about Bose’s disappearance in 1945.   The family met with the PM in Kolkata on Saturday at Raj Bhavan after Modi met with West Bengal’s Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.

“Many know that two crucial classified files on Netaji were destroyed in 1972, during Indira Gandhi’s  tenure in the Government and during Khosla Commission’s investigation into Bose’s death. We are apprehensive that classified information on Bose’s whereabouts after 1945 were in those files. 

So if the truth is not found in the GOI files which you are requested to de-classify, are you willing to write to the Governments of foreign countries for relevant information, I asked Modi. The PM replied in the positive”, Netaji’s grandnephew Chandra Bose told Millennium Post.

Modi further told Chandra  Bose that the phenomenon of certain Governments destroying classified information was not uncommon. So was the practice of snooping by the Government, as Netaji’s nephews experienced even in the late 60s. 

“I am writing to the PMO for another appointment in New Delhi. The PM said that there will be a series of meetings on the subject of declassification where the family and the Government has to work together to unravel the mystery of Bose’s disappearance”, said Chandra Bose. About 8 of Netaji’s family members attended the meeting with the PM in Kolkata.

All present agreed that the problem of declassification of files was complex. Also, while the high power committee overseeing the declassification issue is being given shape, legal aspects like the Official Secret’s Act and the RTI will have to be taken into consideration, the PM pointed out to Bose’s kin during the “courtesy call”. 

When the family pointed out that knowing the truth about Bose was a national demand, Modi said that it was the country’s responsibility to resolve the mystery around his disappearance, “Aap ise desh ki maang mat kahiye. Yeh desh ka kartavya hai”, Modi said.

Chandra Kumar Bose gifted the PM four books on Netaji which he promised to read. Chandra Kumar Bose also found it heartening that Modi did not visit the Renkoji temple in Japan where Netaji’s ashes are supposed to have been buried and also agreed that DNA testing of the ashes was not feasible.