ALLEGED DEATH OF NETAJI AT TAIPEI – BACKGROUND HISTORY AND STORY [1Page]

[First Released – 23/01/2012; Last Edited – 17/01/2013;]

By Ajay Kumar Majhi

The fall of Japan became imminent when the USA dropped atom bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 Aug and 9 Aug 1945 respectively, and the USSR attacked Manchuria (then under Japan) on 10 Aug setting aside the existing treaty of non-aggression. Japan announced surrender to the Allies on 15 August 1945 marking the end of the Second World War.

Netaji, after having several marathon meetings with his senior colleagues, held in Singapore from the  evening of 13 Aug 1945, finally agreed to their suggestions of not surrendering to the Anglo-American forces and move to the Soviet Union(Russia or a Russian territory)  to continue with  his struggle  for India’s independence.

After making all arrangements regarding the Provisional Government of Azad Hind (PGAH), Indian National Army(INA) and Indian Independence League(IIL), he  along with some of his comrades left Singapore on 16 Aug 1945 by air and reached  Bangkok. Some more of his colleagues joined him inBangkokwhere they stayed for the night. He, together with his six colleagues (Habibur Rahman, Pritam Singh, Gulzara Singh, Abid Hasan, S A Ayer and Debnath Das) and some Japanese officials, left Bangkok in two planes and reached Saigon in the next morning(17 August).

The two planes which carried them  to Saigon had to go back. Netaji was told that a bomber plane was going to Dairen, the capital of Manchuria. The plane was carrying some Japanese military personnel, the most important of them being Lt. Gen. T Shidei, an expert in matters Russian, who was to take charge of the Japanese army there and negotiate surrender terms with the advancing Soviet forces. He was also supposed to help Netaji in crossing the border and contact the Russians. However, only one seat was available in the plane. After persuasion one more seat was made available. As it was understood that his other colleagues would be transported  later,  Netaji decided to accept the offer, choose Habibur Rahman as his adjunct and boarded the plane. It took off from Saigon in the evening of 17 August 1945.

Then the story goes like this.

The plane halted for the night in Tourane in Indo-China (now Vietnam). It started again in the following morning (18 August 1945), and reached Matsuyama airport in Taihoku(Japanese name of Taipei) in Formosa (now Taiwan) at about 2.00 PM. Shortly after taking off at about2.30 PM, the plane crashed. Many passengers including Gen. Shidei were met with instantaneous death, some including Netaji were seriously injured, while injuries of some others including Habibur were more or less slight. The injured persons were taken to the nearby Nanmon Military Hospital. While Habibur and some others recovered, Netaji succumbed to his injuries in the same night. His body was cremated in the local crematorium. The ashes were taken to Tokyo and were enshrined in the local Renkoji Temple.

There are, however, innumerable glaring and even  blatant contradictions in the various aspects of the story e.g. the time of death vary between 7 PM and midnight, and the date of cremation between 20 and 22 August according to the different inquiries. The most important discrepancies have been exposed in the Article “Alleged Death of Netaji At Taipei – A Concocted Story”,  proving the story to be a fabricated one.

References

1.Gordon L(1990, Rupa Paperback – 1997):  BROTHERS AGAINST THE RAJ(Rupa & Co., New Delhi) – pp  537-545

2.Bose Sugata(2011): HIS MAJESTY’S OPPONENT(Allen Lane – Penguin Books, New Delhi) – pp 297-309

3.Inquiries/Reports referred to in the Main  Article.