Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's grandnephew has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging him to bring back the remains of the freedom fighter from Japan before his birth anniversary on January 23 next year.
Chandra Bose, who has made familiar demands in the past, the last being on August 17, also demanded that a memorial in Netaji's honour be built in New Delhi, reported PTI.
He said it was a "great dishonour" to the freedom fighter that his "remains" are still lying at the Renkoji Temple in Japan. "Netaji's remains are still lying at Renkoji Temple in Japan. Netaji wanted to return to Independent India, but he could not as he sacrificed his life on August 18, 1945 fighting for India's freedom," the letter stated.
"It is a height of dishonour that his remains should lie in a foreign land. It is of utmost importance that Netaji's remains must be brought back to India within January 23 and a Memorial built in his honour in Delhi on Kartavya Path," he said in the letter.
Chandra Bose credited the Modi government for its initiative to declassify Netaji-related files and bring them to a closure. "After the release of all the files (10 enquiries- national and international), it is evident that Netaji perished on August 18, 1945," he said.
The grandnephew called for a final statement from the Government of India "so that false narratives about the liberator of India are laid to rest."
In his letter, Bose said Jawaharlal Nehru's government in 1956 had set up a three-member inquiry committee with INA veteran General Shah Nawaz Khan in the chair and added that it was for the first time that detailed information about the plane crash in Taiwan and subsequent death of Netaji was recorded.
"It is notable that there should have been so many first-hand accounts, from fellow passengers on the aircraft, Japanese military personnel on the ground beside the runway and Japanese and Taiwanese medical staff at the hospital. Netaji's Indian military aide from the INA Colonel Habib ur Rahman who travelled with Netaji and survived the crash and aftermath, was also one of the direct witnesses," he said.
The 1974 Khosla Commission Report, appointed by the government, reaffirmed the findings of the 1956 Shah Nawaz Committee which had been accepted by the government.
However, the third and last government-appointed Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry 2005 findings stated that Netaji did not die in the said air crash and was found to be based on fundamental errors and thus was rejected by the Government of India, he said.