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New Delhi: Over the past few days a UK-based website – www.bosefiles.info - has released a series of witness statements seeking to solve the controversy over the death of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
The website claims that its 25 years of investigation and research have showed that Netaji died in a plane crash near Taipei airfield in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.
It also says that on January 29, it will upload more information on 'how to prove remains at Tokyo's Renkoji temple belong to Subhas Bose'.
The website, run by UK-based independent journalist and Bose's grandnephew Ashis Ray, uploaded the information after the NDA government decided to declassify 100 documents on Netaji.
Here are excerpts from what it published over the last few days in the website.
Netaji's last flight: On August 18, 1945 a Japanese Air Force bomber took off from Taipei with Netaji and 12 or 13 other passengers and crew.
The website quotes Captain Nakamura alias Yamamoto, who was the ground engineer in charge of maintenance at the Taipei airport: "Immediately on taking off, the plane tilted to its left side and I saw something fall down from the plane, which I later found was the propeller."
"The plane crashed about 100 metres beyond the concrete runway and immediately caught fire in the front portion," he said.
Statement of Colonel Habibur Rehman Khan (Netaji's aide-de-camp who was with him in the same aircraft and survived the crash): "Netaji turned towards me. I said please get out through the front; there is no way in the rear. We could not get through the entrance door as it was all blocked. So Netaji got out through the fire; actually he rushed through the fire. I followed him through the same flames. The moment I got out, I saw his clothes were on fire. I laid him down on the ground and noticed a very deep cut on his head, probably on the left side. His face had been scorched by heat and his hair had also caught fire and singed."
Khan submitted a written statement signed on 24 August 1945 claiming Netaji died in the plane crash.
Netaji's words to Colonel Habibur Rehman Khan: "When you go back to the country, tell the people that up to the last I have been fighting for the liberation of my country; they should continue to struggle, and I am sure India will be free before long. Nobody can keep India in bondage now."
Lt Col Shiro Nonogaki (who was with Netaji in the same aircraft): "When I first saw Netaji after the plane crash, he was standing somewhere near the left tip of the left wing of the plane. His clothes were on fire and his assistant was trying to take off his coat. Since Netaji was sitting very near the petrol tank, he was splashed all over with petrol. It seemed that all his body was on fire."
A Japanese doctor who treated Netaji: According to the website, Japanese doctor Toyoshi Tsuruta attended Netaji at Nanmon Military Hospital. Between May and July of 1946, Lt Col JG Figgess of the British Army interrogated six Japanese officials in Tokyo, including Tsuruta.
Dr Tsuruta submitted to Figgess: "...Bose asked him in English if he would sit with him throughout the night. However, shortly after seven o'clock (in the evening) he suffered a relapse and although the doctor once again administered a camphor injection he sank into a coma and died shortly afterwards."
Nurse who attended Netaji: Tsan Pi Sha, a nurse at the same hospital, confirmed this account in September 1946 to Harin Shah, a journalist with Mumbai's 'Free Press Journal', who visited Taipei to investigate the matter.
She said: "He died here. I was by his side...He died on 18 August last year (1945), (Subhas) Chandra Bose. I am a surgical nurse and took care of him till he died...I was instructed to apply olive oil all over his body and that I did."
"Whenever he regained briefly his consciousness, he felt thirsty. With slight groaning, he would ask for water. I gave him water several times," she added.
Captain Taneyoshi Yoshimi (In-charge of Nanmon Military Hospital): "When he was laid on the bed (of the hospital), I personally cleaned his (Bose's) injuries with oils and dressed them. He was suffering from extensive burns over the whole of his body, though the most serious were those on his head, chest and thighs".
"After the fourth hour (following his admission to the hospital) he appeared to be sinking into unconsciousness. He murmured and muttered in his state of coma, but never regained consciousness. At about 2300 hours he died," he said.
He recalled that when it seemed obvious to him that Bose's condition was sinking, he asked the patient: "What can I do for you?"
Bose replied: "I feel as if blood is rushing to my head. I would like to sleep a while."
Dr Yoshimi gave him an injection and after some time he was no more.
Netaji's Cremation: Tan Ti-Ti, in-charge of issuing cremation permits in Taipei, personally attended Netaji's body at the crematorium. His testimony is contained in the British Foreign Office's file number FC1852/6 of 1956.
As per the claim he died as a result of a plane crash at Taiwan on 18 August 1945.
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