Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions Eng

November 2, 2026 Gopal

Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions Eng

“Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions” or the mystery of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s disappearance remains a long-standing unresolved chapter in the history of India’s freedom struggle. From August 18, 1945 onwards, shrouded in a complex web of multiple inquiry commissions, conflicting reports, and contradictory theories, this event continues to be veiled in obscurity even today. From the Taihoku plane crash to recently declassified secret files—even after eight decades have passed, Netaji’s disappearance stands as a deep and emotionally charged question mark in Indian history.

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Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions Eng

⟽ Previous Post : Scientists of India and Bengal – J Bose, S Bose, M Saha

The Disappearance Mystery of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: Files, Commissions, and the Question That Still Has No Answer

When you talk about August 18, an elderly Bengali man stops. Tears come to his eyes. He says, Netaji never returned. After August 18, 1945, India’s most popular leader suddenly disappeared. The government said he died in a plane crash. His brother’s son said, no, he is alive. A sadhu was shown and it was said, this sadhu is Netaji. About the ashes kept in a temple in Japan, it was said, these ashes are not his. Files were closed for 70 years. In 2015, those files were opened. What came out after the files were opened did not reduce the mystery, it increased it. The Netaji disappearance mystery is independent India’s longest mystery.

Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions Eng

Main Incident: August 17 to 18, 1945

On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered in the Second World War. Netaji was then in Saigon. He knew the British would not spare him. He had two paths ahead. One, escape to Russia. Two, go to Tokyo via Manchuria in a Japanese plane.

He chose the second path.

On August 17, 1945, Netaji left Saigon in a Mitsubishi Ki-21 heavy bomber aircraft. With him were his aide Colonel Habibur Rahman and Japanese Lieutenant General Tsunamasa Shidei. The plan was, from Tourane to Heito, then Taihoku, then Dairen, then Tokyo.

On August 18, in the afternoon, shortly after taking off from Matsuyama Aerodrome in Taihoku, the aircraft developed a problem. A blade of the propeller broke off, the aircraft nosedived and crashed to the ground.

Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions Eng

The Japanese government’s secret report of 1956 says, after the aircraft rose 20 meters, a blade of the three bladed propeller on the left side broke and the engine came off. The aircraft lost balance, crashed into a mound beside the runway, and was instantly covered in fire. Netaji came out of the aircraft wrapped in fire. He suffered third degree burns all over his body. He was taken to the Nanmon Military Hospital, where he is claimed to have died that same night.

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The report further says, at about 3 o’clock he was admitted to the Nanmon branch of the Taipei Army Hospital and at about 7 o’clock he died. On August 22, he was cremated at the Taipei Municipal Crematorium. His ashes were kept in the Renkoji Temple in Tokyo.

Japan informed America of this death within a month. Japan officially confirmed the news of Netaji’s death one month after the Taihoku plane crash. Japan’s report says, Bose came out of the aircraft soaked in gasoline and covered in fire, and his aide Habibur Rahman also came out and tried to extinguish the fire.

This is the official story.

Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions Eng

Three Commissions, Three Different Conclusions

In independent India, the government set up three inquiry commissions on this death.

First, the Shah Nawaz Committee, in 1956. This committee decided that Subhas Chandra Bose died on August 18, 1945, in Taihoku, now Taipei, Taiwan, from injuries sustained in a plane crash. This committee also said that Netaji’s ashes are kept in the Renkoji Temple in Japan. But in this committee, Netaji’s elder brother Suresh Chandra Bose gave a dissenting note. He rejected the plane crash theory.

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➣দেখুন : ANM & GNM পরীক্ষার সম্পূর্ণ প্রস্তুতি

➣দেখুন : WB KP পরীক্ষার সম্পূর্ণ প্রস্তুতি

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Second, the G. D. Khosla Commission, 1970 to 1974. This commission supported the decision of the Shah Nawaz Committee. The commission said the plane crash had occurred and Netaji died on August 18, 1945, in Taihoku from burn injuries. This commission dismissed as baseless the claims that Netaji was alive or in hiding.

Third, the Justice Mukherjee Commission, 1999 to 2005. This commission reversed the decisions of the previous two commissions. This commission decided that Netaji died, but not in a plane crash as claimed. The commission also said that the ashes preserved in Japan’s Renkoji Temple are not Netaji’s. However, this commission admitted that due to lack of conclusive evidence, a definite answer was not possible.

The biggest argument of the Mukherjee Commission was that there is no evidence of any plane crash at Taihoku airport on August 18, 1945. The commission said no medical certificate, no cremation certificate, no plane crash record could be found.

Taiwan’s records make this question even more complicated. Taiwan’s Transport Minister informed researchers by email that after reviewing records from August 14, 1945 to October 25, no evidence was found of any aircraft carrying Bose crashing at the old Matsuyama airport. Taiwan’s records say the only major accident during that time was in September 1945, a USC-47 transport aircraft carrying released prisoners of war, 200 nautical miles away from Taipei, which has no connection with Bose.

Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions Eng

In 1956, a report by Taiwan police said it failed to prove that Indian national leader Bose died in Taiwan.

On the other hand, websites like Bose Files Info publish statements of five eyewitnesses, including a Japanese doctor, an interpreter, and a Taiwanese nurse, who all said Netaji died on the night of August 18, 1945, after the plane crash.

The Declassified Files of 2015: What Was Revealed

On October 14, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a meeting with the Netaji family, announced that files related to Netaji would be opened to the public in phases.

After that, on December 4, 2015, 33 files were handed over to the National Archives in the first phase from the Prime Minister’s Office. On January 23, 2016, on Netaji’s 119th birth anniversary, the Prime Minister released digital versions of 100 files. These files contain papers from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Home Ministry, and the External Affairs Ministry from 1956 to 2013.

The West Bengal government, on September 18, 2015, released 64 files of about 12,744 pages. A sensational fact emerged from these files. Even in independent India, Netaji’s family was under surveillance. During Jawaharlal Nehru’s time, the intelligence department secretly kept watch on Netaji’s nieces and nephews.

Mamata Banerjee, while releasing these files, said there are letters in this file in which some people said Netaji may have been alive even after 1945.

But the central government rejected the Mukherjee Commission report. In 2017, the center told Parliament that Bose died in a plane crash in 1945. On June 1, 2017, the Home Ministry, in reply to an RTI, said that after considering the reports of various committees, the government has reached this conclusion.

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Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions Eng

The Theories That Still Circulate

Around this mystery, four theories circulate.

First theory, the official theory. Netaji died in a plane crash in Taihoku. In favor of this theory are the Japanese report, the Shah Nawaz Committee, the Khosla Commission, and Habibur Rahman’s statement.

Second theory, the Mukherjee Commission theory. The plane crash never happened. Netaji escaped to Russia in some other way. In favor of this theory, the lack of Taiwan records and inconsistencies in witness statements are shown.

Third theory, Gumnami Baba. In Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, a sadhu named Gumnami Baba is claimed by many to be Netaji. The Mukherjee Commission rejected this claim. The commission said Gumnami Baba is not Netaji.

Fourth theory, the Russia theory. Many say Netaji was imprisoned in Russia. He was killed during Stalin’s era. No strong evidence for this theory has been found till today.

Conclusion

What the sources say is that there is still no final scientific answer to this mystery.

What is proven is that after August 18, 1945, no one saw Netaji in public. What is documented is that the Japanese government informed America of his death within a month. What is disputed is whether that death really happened in a plane crash.

Mystery of Netaji’s Disappearance – Some Unsolved Questions Eng

After the files were opened in 2015, people learned that the government kept Netaji’s family under surveillance. People learned that the DNA test of the ashes in the Renkoji Temple has still not been done. If this DNA test is done, perhaps the answer to this 80 year old question will be found.

Until this DNA test is done, every August 18, an elderly Bengali man will look towards the sky. And he will say, Netaji did not return. And this not returning will remain the biggest unanswered question in India’s history. ➣Read in Bengali

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