Kin of Netaji want high-power committee to decode secret files

Kolkata: Some family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to form a high-powered committee to decode secret foreign files on the disappearance of the leader in 1945.

Netaji’s grand-nephew and BJP leader Chandra Bose said they would soon seek an appointment from PM Modi and urge him to form a committee comprising officials from the PMO, Home department, Intelligence Bureau, National Archives and a family representative.

“The committee should go to Russia, London, Berlin, Tokyo and even China to decode the secret intelligence files.

The intelligence people know how to decode the files without which it is not possible to understand the meaning,” he said.

Stressing that it is not the job of any historian to crack secret codes in intelligence files, he said with the support of the Union government they can get permission to study the files in foreign nations.

“Our Prime Minister has started the process of unravelling the mystery behind the disappearance of Netaji and now it should be taken to a logical conclusion within a set time framework,” said Bose, who along with other family members and researcher Anuj Dhar, has been leading the campaign to declassify the Netaji files.

The Centre has already released around 200-250 files on Netaji but so far no clinching evidence has been found to solve the mystery behind the disappearance of Netaji.

“There are 400-500 files still left to be released as the government is releasing 25 files every month. There are thousands of pages and it’s not possible for us to study each page,” Bose said.

He said during the meeting with PM, they would also demand an expert committee be set up to prepare a gist of the newly-classified files.

PTI