On 16 September 1985, a reclusive monk in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh, passed away. Now no longer bound by the promises they had kept to their master, the followers of the reclusive monk revealed his identity in public: that the monk was none other than Subhas Chandra Bose, famed freedom fighter rumored to have perished forty years earlier. The writings and letters of the reclusive monk were collected. Non-profit organization, Mission Netaji, has in possession, the reports of three top level handwriting experts in order to establish that the reclusive monk, known as Bhagwanji to his followers (not a name, but a title) and Gumnami Baba (the monk with no name) to the local media and population at large, was in fact, Subhas Chandra Bose.
The details of the handwriting experts are as follows: 📷 Dr. B Lal Kapoor. Government Chief Examiner of Questioned Documents. He had, in front of the Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry, established with over 400 king-size exhibits to demonstrate how the handwriting of Bhagwanji and Netaji had matched, both in English and in Bengali. It may be noted that Dr. B Lal Kapoor was a renowned figure in the field of forensic science. As of 2019, we are given to believe that Dr. Kapoor is, unfortunately, no more. However, this information cannot be corroborated one hundred percent.
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Curt Baggett. Expert Document Examiner with forty years of experience and 5,000 solved cases to his credit. He has testified before Honorable Courts not only in almost all the fifty states of the U.S. but also in Europe and elsewhere. He has prepared a sixty-page report establishing that the handwriting of Bhagwanji and Netaji had matched. Moreover, his report was peer-reviewed, and this, in effect, is a positive report from two experts.
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Dr. Ashok Kashyap. Forensic Handwriting Expert with 53 years of experience and 7,000 solved cases to his credit. His services have been sought by almost every nationalized bank, various foreign banks and he has given evidence and testified before Honorable Courts from almost seventeen states, which also include special CBI Courts. He has given a report detailing the matches between the handwriting of Bhagwanji and that of Netaji, conclusively establishing that both were the same person and that there has been no forgery.
The researchers of Mission Netaji have also submitted that it is not scientifically possible to copy another person’s handwriting in two languages for almost thirty years.
The followers of Gumnami Baba (Bhagwanji) included Leela Roy (an associate of Subhas Chandra Bose since the 1920s), Pabitra Mohan Roy (an intelligence officer in Bose’s Provisional Government of Free India) among other revolutionaries from Bengal, all of whom were convinced of the reclusive monk being their long lost leader. Trailokya Nath Chakraborty, a renowned freedom fighter who later also a key figure for the Bangladesh Liberation Movement, through a letter, had acknowledged his information on Bose being alive. The letter was recovered from the last residence of the reclusive monk.
Further circumstantial evidence may be added that Suresh Chandra Bose, the eldest among the several siblings of Netaji’s generation, made a statement before the Khosla Commission of Inquiry (1972) that his brother, Subhas Chandra Bose, was alive till date. Mission Netaji has established that Suresh Chandra Bose was made aware of Bhagwanji’s existence prior to his statement before the Commission.
It may, therefore, be said that this theory contains maximum evidence.
If indeed this theory contains maximum evidence, what would be the fate of the government-sponsored narrative that Subhas Chandra Bose perished in a plane crash at Taiwan in 1945?
Here are my points that may help in the demolition of this theory:
The only evidence in favour of the plane crash theory is circumstantial in nature. The theory is based on verbal evidence alone. Reports written by interrogators, now available in the National Archives of India, New Delhi, have expressly written that the accounts given by the survivors are contradictory, and therefore cannot be relied upon.
That Subhas Chandra Bose apparently perished due to third-degree burns, but his ADC Colonel Habibur Rahman escaped unhurt, is itself suspicious. If at all both were travelling together, how could have one person escaped without as much as a scratch, while the other’s face was badly burnt and the burns were third-degree in nature, owing to which he perished?
That a tactician like Subhas Chandra Bose decided to go to Tokyo, where he could have been easily apprehended by the Allied forces, instead of escaping someplace else, is also a point that cannot be easily believed. A person, who, to put it informally, escaped from right under the noses of the British intelligence just days before he was to be tried for rebelling against the British, reached Germany, sought Hitler’s help, was patient enough to undertake several months of a submarine voyage in the midst of a global war to reach Japan, is clearly a person desperate to overthrow colonial rule, a person with contacts far and wide, and a sizeable amount of resources at his disposal. It is a cause for legitimate suspicion if such a person should decide to surrender so easily. It is even more suspicious if news were to break out, that such a person died in the midst of the journey. The assumption that the crash was a hoax and that he must have escaped, is, therefore, sound.
The Japanese never explained the delay in their announcement. It was only on 23 August 1945 that the Japanese announced Bose’s death in a plane crash dated 18 August 1945. It may be hypothesized that the Japanese decided to announce his death after ensuring the success of his escape, and there would be no grounds to conclusively reject this hypothesis.
The photographs provided by the Japanese that are said to be of Bose’s body, do not show the person’s face. The hands and feet, too, are not visible. Therefore, there is not only a possibility of there not being Bose in the photograph, but there is also a possibility that there was no human at all! Verily, there could have been almost anything under the wrapping!
The Government of India has consistently provided excuses to not conduct a forensic test of the ashes kept at Renkoji Temple in Tokyo, supposed to be those of Subhas Chandra Bose. The physical presence is in Japan, however, the Embassy of India in Tokyo is in charge of the "ashes", which are not really ashes but remains of bones. It is, even after so many years, possible to conduct an anthropological and mitochondrial DNA test. The former would establish the racial identity of the person (Caucasian/Asian), age etc. It is entirely in the authority of the Indian State to conduct a test. However, the government is unwilling. It may be hypothesized that they fear the repercussions should the result be negative (a non-match).
The evidence, therefore, is not sufficient inasmuch as the formal acceptance by an Honorable Court of Law is concerned.
There is a second theory, supported by many in the intelligentsia, like historian Dr. Purabi Roy, Major General (Retd.) G D Bakshi and even Dr. Subramanian Swamy. According to them, Subhas Chandra Bose escaped to the Soviet Union where, upon Stalin's orders, he was disposed off, and that India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru had a part in it.
There are, however, pressing problems with this theory:
The proponents have no evidence to back their theory up. They claim they have come across intelligence records mentioning so, however, they have neither produced the documents, either photocopy or original, nor have they produced the document number.
One of the places Bose hid in disguise following his escape from India in 1941, was the Soviet Union. It was the Soviet Union which helped Bose get his false Italian passport that went by the name "Count Orlando Mazzotta", facilitating his travel through Europe to Germany. Evidently, they knew of Bose's true identity. That the Soviets would do something of this sort without informing Jospeh Stalin is unthinkable.
Mission Netaji came across a letter written by Bose to the Soviets in 1944, through the Soviet Ambassador to Japan, that he intended to seek the help of the Soviet Union in liberating his country, that he had ensured that in his quest, he had not hurt Soviet interests and even that he was impressed with the sense of leadership the Soviet Union had displayed during World War II. It makes no sense, therefore, that the Soviet Union would kill someone who had come to them of his own accord.
On Gandhi's assassination, the Soviets did not send an emissary until two days later. Moreover, when Nehru's sister visited the Soviet Union post-independence, Stalin did not grant her an audience. Evidently, he did not think too highly of India's leadership, and therefore, it is not possible for Stalin to comply with Nehru's request to have Bose disposed of.
Proponents of the theory quote this letter, apparently written by Nehru to Clement Attlee, to assert Nehru's complicity: 📷However, the above letter is actually a part of a dictation given by Nehru's stenographer before the Khosla Commission of Inquiry, constituted in 1972 in order to probe Bose's disappearance. The stenographer himself believed that Bose was back in India and was living incognito.
Therefore, that he was killed in Russia is a theory which stands on no solid ground, and appears credible only because Stalin was a ruthless dictator who had millions of his own people killed. Returning to Bhagwanji or Gumnami Baba: The nameless saint arrived in India through the Nepal border in the mid-1950s with the help one Mahadeo Prasad Mishra, a Sanskrit teacher, who would pass away in 1970 without knowing his true identity. Saraswati Devi, the daughter of Mishra, was in service of Bhagwanji. She passed away in early the 2000s. Her son, Rajkumar, is understood to be still alive. Bhagwanji routinely used to refer to himself as "Your Dead Man", "Mahakaal", "Dead Ghost" etc. The intellectual horizon of this man was mind-boggling, and so were his claims. A chunk of Bhagwanji’s utterances were compiled into a book called Oi Mahamanaba Asey by Charanik, who at one point of time was the revolutionary Sunil Das. Following are the various statements made (and incidents recounted) by Bhagwanji: (1) This is Bhagwanji recalling what happened when "he" was to accompany the Japanese and was asked to choose one of "his" aides to accompany him after Japan had decided to surrender during World War II: 📷 📷 The land of bears in question was Soviet Russia, and the black society in question was the secretive Japanese Black Dragon Society, whose former head’s son-in-law, Rash Behari Bose had handed over the charge of the INA to Netaji. (2) This is Bhagwanji talking of "his" adjutant, Colonel Habibur Rahman:
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We all are aware of large-scale communal riots during the partition of India. Colonel Rahman apparently lost his family in the riots. He left for his home which was in PoK. He joined the Pakistan army and had a role in Pakistan’s attack in 1947–48 in terms of planning. After that, he joined Pakistan’s foreign service. He was probably the only one who retired honorably (and had held a really senior position) in spite of being pro-Netaji all his life.
(3) Bhagwanji even recalled the INA days, although not too often. Here is one instance of him recalling, when the INA charged into the Indian border:
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(4) In one of his routine recollections of his past, he accused S A Ayer and Manga Ramamurti of treachery (looting the INA treasure). This was exposed in 2015 by India Today: https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/india/north/story/20150525-netaji-subash-chandra-bose-wealth-lost-819650-2015-05-14
(5) Bhagwanji recounting his time in Berlin:
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(6) Bhagwanji referring to himself:
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(7) Bhagwanji referring to the Shah Nawaz Committee and Khosla Commission of Inquiry, constituted by the government to probe into Subhas Chandra Bose's disappearance:
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(8) Bhagwanji referring to himself: "With all your erudition and discernment, you simply cannot comprehend the state of metamorphosis of the Ghost of Mahakaal. How very complete and final!" Bhagwanji would repeatedly claim that he had “undergone complete metamorphosis” and was an altogether different person from what he used to be. And that the attempts to comprehend his present through his past would be futile. (9) Bhagwanji's philosophical statement: 📷 Evidently, he is no everyday holy man. (10) Bhagwanji referring to Mahatma Gandhi: 📷 In essence, Bhagwanji said that "he" held no feelings of bitterness against Gandhi, in spite of the differences they held. (11) While praising the RSS school of thought, Bhagwanji said thus: "If Hinduism became extinct, India would be reduced to being just a land mass. Egypt is at present only a geographical land mass. It is an object of archaeological interest only. Ancient Indian wisdom was an ocean of unbounded energy". (12) Bhagwanji admiring the Jewish people: "2000 years of buffeting has destroyed their everything but their faith in their religion, faith in their destiny, faith in Old Testament is intact. This is why they have implicit confidence in their faith. Could you achieve anything if you do not have this perspective? What sustains a man? It is faith, do you understand?" (13) Bhagwanji predicting the end of communism while the Soviet Union was almost at the peak of its power: "A race which cannot bind itself to its history and culture cannot ever win. This is the axiomatic truth. This is the state of the communists. They are like a flash in the pan, glare for two days and will then evaporate. This creed is carrying its death in its own cell." Assessing his claims about his involvement in Indian national security, the only point that could be deduced was that he became involved in Soviet covert operations to undermine the American hegemony in South East Asia and elsewhere with the larger aim to ensure that India was not caught in bloody proxy wars between the free and communist worlds. (14) Bhagwanji's imagination-defying claim about his role in the Vietnam War: "about 50-60 wars have been fought in the world since WWII, but America has not been able to win even a single one of them”. He deliberately pronounced ‘single’ as ‘thingle’— mocking someone he did not like. ‘Churchill could not pronounce ‘S’; I am alive to tell you this.’ He even said, that on his advice, Ho Chi Minh dumped free cocaine and opium in south Vietnam. “The Americans have consumed at least a thousand tons till now—avidly. Change my name if the greatest power of the present world can win north Vietnam even in a thousand years!”. It is interesting to note that Bhagwanji made this comment in 1966. But it was only in 1971 that Richard Nixon, then US President, became aware that 20% of American soldiers were heroin addicts!
(15) Bhagwanji, while ranting against Louis Mountbatten one day, predicted that the former governor general of India would not die in a single piece. In a twisted coincidence, when the IRA assassinated Mountbatten, he didn’t die in one piece (when the bomb aboard his boat detonated, his legs were almost blown off). The most interesting part is yet to come!
(16) Bhagwanji's connection to the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971: In June 1966, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (who would go on to become the first PM of Bangladesh) began an agitation demanding provincial autonomy for East Pakistan. Almost immediately, Bhagwanji wrote a letter to Leela Roy, a former freedom fighter and his follower, detailing thus, “A terrible situation is being created in East and West Pakistan because of which Ayub will have to become Nadir Shah for fulfilling the goal, only then there shall be found another one, to take his place, to become full Nadir Shah..... Indian Govt's security shall stand jeopardized, but adequate arrangements have been made to ensure that other powers are not able to join us.”
Bhagwanji had, in fact, commanded Pabitra Mohan Roy to set up a small army capable of guerrilla warfare, and use it to attack Pakistani positions and help those escaping East Pakistan find refuge in India. He reminded Pabitra that in light of India's failure in the 1962 war against China, the government had set up the NCC, and that Pabitra could use his political connections to form a guerrilla force out of a group of NCC-trained cadets so that they could, in absolute secrecy, ensure that refugees had no problem and Pakistani positions could be weakened. This was much before India stepped in. Unfortunately, Bhagwanji's plans didn't materialize.
At the time of writing the aforementioned letter, Sheikh Rahman's protest had not even taken a secessionist form, and Bhagwanji was already making three predictions: (1) There would be a war. (2) India would be involved. (3) Foreign powers would not be able to intervene.
He was proven right on all three fronts. The war did start on 3 December 1971 when Pakistan attempted to bomb Indian airfields. The Indian Air Force, however, was on alert. It quelled the attack, and the Indian Army marched into East Pakistan. Simultaneously, the Indian Navy was engaged in unprecedented action.
The U.S. was at its wits’ end, and decided to threaten India into submission by sending its Seventh Fleet. The quick-witted Indira Gandhi, however, had signed an agreement with the Soviet Union months in advance, adhering to which the Soviets decided to protect India from the U.S. harassment by deploying nuclear submarines in the waters of the Indian Ocean. Not wanting to aggravate the Soviets, the Seventh Fleet promptly turned back. China, as usual, did not step in to help its ally, Pakistan, and with the retreat of the U.S. there was no power on Earth that could stop India from creating Bangladesh. The U.S. watched, helpless, as India dissected its dear ally into two parts, one of which was an independent country as India achieved resounding victory on 16 December 1971 with the surrender of 93,000 Pakistani soldiers.
Interestingly, during the war, there were rumours (lost in the excitement of the war) of Subhas Chandra Bose being spotted on a boat in the Bay of Bengal. Eagle-eyed as Pabitra Mohan Roy was, he picked up the news and sent copies of the Bengali newspaper Jugabani to Bhagwanji. The man in the garb of a reclusive monk, Bhagwanji, agreed that he was there but it was not a boat. He described the vessel thus: 📷 The location was not made clear by him, but it appeared as if this “midget man o’ war” was primarily there in the South China Sea. Furthermore, it appears as if one of Bhagwanji’s followers may have had a role in freeing Mujibur Rahman from Pakistani custody, who would go on to become the first PM of Bangladesh (it’s his daughter who is the current PM, FYI). Further information is available in the following book: 📷