IB doctored document to prove govt line on Netaji's death
Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2012 9:00 am
NEW DELHI: A new book on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the inspirational freedom fighter whose disappearance still remains a mystery, says the Intelligence Bureau doctored British intelligence reports to support the Nehru government's claim that he died in an air crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945.
The book, with several secret documents on Netaji's disappearance, questions many widely held assumptions about the purported death of the Bengali freedom fighter who twice became Congress president by the time he was 42. After being sidelined in the Congress later, Netaji mysteriously disappeared from India, went to Germany to strike an alliance with Hitler, and later got Japanese assistance to establish the Indian National Army that fought its way almost up to the northeast of India.
The book, the second on Netaji's mysterious disappearance by former journalist Anuj Dhar, raises new questions about the purported air crash of 1945 that allegedly killed Bose and has many new documents showing New Delhi's intentions to legitimise Bose's 1945 death in public eye and doubts among many Bose family members and close associates about the story.
Most damagingly, the book says that the IB doctored a British-era document to support Nehru government's stance on the freedom fighter's reported death. The book, 'India's Biggest Cover-Up', claims that this doctored document was repeatedly used by the government to shore up support in favour of the official view. This redacted document also became key evidence before commissions appointed to probe Netaji's disappearance.
In 1955, then director of IB and the father of Indian intelligence, B N Mullik, despatched a dossier to the Shah Nawaz Committee that was set up by the government to probe Bose's reported death. The first document in the dossier was a report from Phillip Finney, an assistant director with IB who had been sent to southeast Asia along with other officers to ascertain facts. The copy of Finney's report of November 1945 supplied by the IB to the committee appeared to confirm the Japanese announcement of Bose's death, just at a time when the British were preparing to arrest him.
Both the Shah Nawaz Committee and Khosla Commission, which was later set up to look at Bose's death, used Finney's report to claim that the inquiries by British officers had concluded that the Japanese announcement of Bose's death was correct. The same line was carried on by Prof Sugata Bose, a grand nephew of Bose, in his popular biography of Bose titled 'His Majesty's Opponent'.
In the latest book, Dhar claims that Finney's report in the IB dossier had been censored to expunge its last three and most crucial paragraphs. He found the full original report in the archives of a declassified ministry of defence file. The portion removed from Finney's report shows that he was actually not sure of Bose's death. Author Anuj Dhar says, "Whoever tampered with this record did so with the intention of conforming to the government view about Netaji's death."
Dhar also accuses intelligence czar Mullik of lying on oath when he was summoned by the Khosla Commission as a witness in 1970. When Mullik was repeatedly asked if the IB ever snooped on Shaulmari baba -- a hermit who many believed was Netaji — he said the government never asked the IB to track the hermit because it "did not concern national security". There has been no conclusive proof that Baba was Netaji indeed. However, Dhar reproduces formerly top secret records of IB to show that Mullik personally supplied information to Nehru on Shaulmari baba.
The author also claims to have collected information from Taiwan government to rule out the 1945 crash that purportedly killed Netaji.
Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 813725.cms
Another link where lot of details about the mystery related to the purported death of Netaji are discussed http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/spec ... netaji.htm
The book, with several secret documents on Netaji's disappearance, questions many widely held assumptions about the purported death of the Bengali freedom fighter who twice became Congress president by the time he was 42. After being sidelined in the Congress later, Netaji mysteriously disappeared from India, went to Germany to strike an alliance with Hitler, and later got Japanese assistance to establish the Indian National Army that fought its way almost up to the northeast of India.
The book, the second on Netaji's mysterious disappearance by former journalist Anuj Dhar, raises new questions about the purported air crash of 1945 that allegedly killed Bose and has many new documents showing New Delhi's intentions to legitimise Bose's 1945 death in public eye and doubts among many Bose family members and close associates about the story.
Most damagingly, the book says that the IB doctored a British-era document to support Nehru government's stance on the freedom fighter's reported death. The book, 'India's Biggest Cover-Up', claims that this doctored document was repeatedly used by the government to shore up support in favour of the official view. This redacted document also became key evidence before commissions appointed to probe Netaji's disappearance.
In 1955, then director of IB and the father of Indian intelligence, B N Mullik, despatched a dossier to the Shah Nawaz Committee that was set up by the government to probe Bose's reported death. The first document in the dossier was a report from Phillip Finney, an assistant director with IB who had been sent to southeast Asia along with other officers to ascertain facts. The copy of Finney's report of November 1945 supplied by the IB to the committee appeared to confirm the Japanese announcement of Bose's death, just at a time when the British were preparing to arrest him.
Both the Shah Nawaz Committee and Khosla Commission, which was later set up to look at Bose's death, used Finney's report to claim that the inquiries by British officers had concluded that the Japanese announcement of Bose's death was correct. The same line was carried on by Prof Sugata Bose, a grand nephew of Bose, in his popular biography of Bose titled 'His Majesty's Opponent'.
In the latest book, Dhar claims that Finney's report in the IB dossier had been censored to expunge its last three and most crucial paragraphs. He found the full original report in the archives of a declassified ministry of defence file. The portion removed from Finney's report shows that he was actually not sure of Bose's death. Author Anuj Dhar says, "Whoever tampered with this record did so with the intention of conforming to the government view about Netaji's death."
Dhar also accuses intelligence czar Mullik of lying on oath when he was summoned by the Khosla Commission as a witness in 1970. When Mullik was repeatedly asked if the IB ever snooped on Shaulmari baba -- a hermit who many believed was Netaji — he said the government never asked the IB to track the hermit because it "did not concern national security". There has been no conclusive proof that Baba was Netaji indeed. However, Dhar reproduces formerly top secret records of IB to show that Mullik personally supplied information to Nehru on Shaulmari baba.
The author also claims to have collected information from Taiwan government to rule out the 1945 crash that purportedly killed Netaji.
Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 813725.cms
Another link where lot of details about the mystery related to the purported death of Netaji are discussed http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/spec ... netaji.htm