Netaji’s Kin Seeks DNA Test Of Ashes Kept At Japan Temple

Seven-and-a-half decades after Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose went missing, the jury is still out on the date and manner of his death.

A number of historians suggest that he died in a plane crash in Taiwan, on August 18, 1945. Many believe this theory, but there are others – including some of his family members — who continue to challenge it. Among other theories is the one which suggests Netaji lived in disguise till death in UP as Gumnami Baba.

There has been a demand over the years to bring Netaji’s purported remains from a temple in Japan and have a DNA test done.

Now, Netaji’s grandnephew Surya Kumar Bose has made a fresh appeal to authorities to facilitate DNA testing of the ashes that are believed to have been buried in Renkoji temple, PTI reported.

That will help put to rest the controversy surrounding his “disappearance”, Surya Kumar said.

He also pointed out in his statement that Reverend Nichiko Mochizuki, chief priest of Renkoji temple, had written to the Indian embassy in Tokyo in 2005 insisting that the remains be returned.

“Almost two decades ago, in the course of the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry (JMCI), a precious opportunity to conduct a DNA test, and to bring the remains of Netaji home to his beloved motherland, was sadly lost,” he said.

“It is time to seize the opportunity missed by Justice Mukherjee to conduct a DNA testing procedure on the reported remains of Netaji. There is every reason to believe that this entire process would be fully acceptable to and supported by the Renkoji Temple authorities, as well as by the governments of both Japan and India,” Netaji’s grandnephew stated.