Mukherjee Commission & after

Mukehrjee Commission (1999-2005) was the third official probe into Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's disappearance in 1945. It was the second commission of inquiry after Khosla Commission (1970-1974), set up by Indira Gandhi's Government. The first probe was a committee headed by Shah Nawaz Khan from April 1956 to July 1956 under the complete control of the Ministry of External Affairs, then headed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Both Shah Nawaz Committee and Khosla Commission concluded that Netaji had died following an air crash in Taipei on 18 August 1945. But in a momentous overturn, the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry (JMCI) found out that the "plane crash" was a cover for Netaji's escape towards the Soviet Russia.

What led to JMCI's formation?

What clearly set the JMCI apart from the earlier probes was its coming into being following a court order. The decisions to form the earlier probes were taken by the Government under public pressure. By the 1990s, the Bose mystery had almost died out. But then, after the fall of the USSR, some sensational stories came to light, mostly due to the efforts of Dr Purabi Roy, then a professor with the International Relations Department of Jadavpore University, Kolkata. Subsequently a PIL was filed by lawyer Rudra Jyoti Bhattacharjee in Calcutta High Court, which was cleared by Chief Justice Prabha Shankar Mishra. The court ordered on April 30, 1998 that the Union Government should "launch a vigorous inquiry ... as a special case for the purpose of giving an end to the controversy" surrounding Netaji's disappearance. The Court also observed that "lapses have occurred from time to time" and "no serious effort in this behalf (Netaji's disappearance) has been made" by the Government. Adding to the pressure, a motion for a new probe was brought in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, largely due to the efforts of All India Forward Bloc, the communist offshoot of Netaji's Forward Bloc.

The NDA Government of that time did not contest the Court's order and consequently notified on April 14, 1999 that "the Central Government is of the opinion that it is necessary to appoint a Commission of Inquiry for the purpose of making an in-depth inquiry into a definitive matter of a public importance".

The name of Justice Monoj Kumar Mukherjee, a former judge of the Supreme Court of India, was suggested by the Chief Justice of India. As such Justice Mukherjee, a top criminologist, was far more suitable than his predecessors. Prolific writer, friend of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi's biographer Gopal Das Khosla was a High Court Chief Justice. Shah Nawaz Khan, formerly of the INA, was a Congress MP, who rose to be a deputy Minister following the submission of his "command performance".

The inquiry of JMCI

During the inquiry of the new Commission, several shocking facts came to light:

1. The Government of India would not hand over several sensitive records to the Commission they had been forced to form by the Calcutta High Court. From the start, the Government never fully complied with the Commission's orders. (In its final report, the Commission indicted the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs and the Cabinet Secretariat for not being fair.)

2. The UPA Government was overtly hostile towards the Commission. Justice Mukherjee was "humiliated" by them for his insistence to probe the Taiwanese and the Russian angles to the Netaji mystery.

3. It was established that the Governments of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi's either hushed up or destroyed several records pertaining to the reported death of Subhas Bose.

4. The Government was against the Commission visiting Taiwan, but Justice Mukherjee prevailed. Justice Mukherjee's January 2005 visit to Taiwan and his direct interaction with Taiwan Government yielded the disclosure that there was no evidence of any air crash in or around Taipei around 18 August 1945. The Commission also found out that despite the claims of the previous panels, and so called eyewitnesses, Netaji and other victims of the "crash" were not cremated in Taiwan.

5. The British Government told the Commission that they would not declassify some papers on Netaji until 2021. The Government of India would not help the Commission in accessing these papers.

6. With the evidence hinting at no crash, the Commission made attempts to find out what had happened to Netaji after 1945. Starting February 2001, the Commission asked the Government to make arrangements for their visit to Russia so that the evidence could be assessed. The Government kept dilly-dallying.

7. Overlooking the Commission's demand to visit Russia, the Government abruptly apprised the Commission on 19 November 2004 of a Cabinet decision that "no further extension" will be allowed.

8. Under pressure, the Government gave the Commission an extension. In September 2005, the Commission was allowed to visit Russia, but it never got access to major intelligence and security-related archives of Russia. One major witness did not turn up and others apparently turned hostile. As a result, the Commission's Russia sojourn failed.

The Commission's findings

The terms assigned by the Government to JMCI and its corresponding findings are:

a) Whether Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is dead or alive;

JMCI: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is dead

b) If he is dead whether he died in the plane crash, as alleged;

JMCI: He did not die in the plane crash, as alleged;

c) Whether the ashes in the Japanese temple are ashes of Netaji;

JMCI: The ashes in the Japanese temple are not of Netaji;

d) Whether he has died in any other manner at any other place and, if so, when and how;

JMCI: In the absence of any clinching evidence a positive answer cannot be given; and

e) If he is alive, in respect of his whereabouts.

JMCI: Answer already given in (a) above.

Getting into the details, the Commission didn't just nix the air crash story; it paved the way for further inquiry, maintaining that Subhas had disappeared while heading towards the Soviet Russia.

A secret plan was contrived to ensure Netaji's safe passage to which Japanese military authority and Habibur Rahman were parties.

The purpose of his (Netaji's) flight was to go to the Soviet Union and with the aid of the Soviet Union he was to continue his independence movement.

The departure of Netaji from Saigon on August 17, 1945 along with Habibur Rahman and some Japanese officers for going to Russia via Manchuria is ... not in controversy.

It stands established that emplaning at Saigon on August 17, 1945 Netaji succeeded in evading the Allied Forces and escaping out of their reach and as a camouflage thereof the entire make-believe story of the air crash, Netaji's death therein and his cremation was engineered by the Japanese army authorities including the two doctors and Habibur Rahman and then aired on August 23, 1945 ....

Whether Netaji thereafter landed in Russia or elsewhere cannot be answered for dearth of evidence.

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