Netaji Rahasya Gatha

by Anuj Dhar

India's biggest cover-up is an investigative insight into the Netaji mystery and its stranger than fiction subplots. Relying heavily on official records-bulk of them still security classified in violation of democratic norms-the book uncovers a systematic obstruction of justice by the Government of India. First for any book in India, the narrative has been augmented with the excerpts and images of still secret records. Archival material and information obtained under the freedom of information acts of India, the US and the UK has also been made use of.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, India, Politics, Mystery, Journalism, Biography

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Anuj Dhar is an Indian author and former journalist. Dhar has published several books on the death of Subhas Chandra Bose which (according to official and academic views) occurred on 18 August 1945, when a Japanese plane carrying him crashed in Japanese-occupied Taiwan.

Reviews

[Rajeev · Rating 5 out of 5]

A profile image two inches-by-two in a school textbook. Round-face. Round-rimmed spectacles. Khakhi garrison cap. Looking into the far distance. That is the image our minds invoke on hearing the name Subhas Chandra Bose. An ICS officer in the His Majesty's British Empire turned revolutionary. Twice the president of the grand old party of India - the Indian National Congress. The founder of the Forward Bloc. The civilian who became a general. The first leader of the Azad Hind Government, in exile. The man who promised us freedom and asked us to pledge our blood for the cause. The man who raised an army to march against the British Indian Empire. Axis partner and war criminal, for the victorious WWII Allies. Simply, the most selfless patriot of modern India.

Yet Netaji’s life was largely a mystery. A mystery that began with his escaping from British custody in 1941 and compounded by his disappearance during the final days of the Japanese surrender during WWII. The government of India led by Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru bought the Japanese version of Netaji's death in a Taiwan air crash and adopted that as the establishment's version. Successive governments and two commissions of enquiry toed the Nehru line. Anuj Dhar in this brilliantly pieced together masterpiece of investigative journalism convincingly blasts the "air crash theory" to smithereens in the first 20 pages and goes on to strengthen his case by following other credible leads on Netaji's escape via Manchuria to Stanlinist Soviet Russia, his possible return to India and life as "Bhagwanji" in Faizabad, UP until his death in September 1985), the Government's confiscation and sealing of Bhagwanji's personal effects, their reluctance to release at least 33 classified Netaji files, and their collusion with Netaji's "aides-gone-rogue" (Shah Nawaz Khan, Munga Ramamurthy, SA Iyer et al) to perpetuate the death of a man who cheated it.

Anuj backs-up all his statements and conclusions with images of de-classified documents obtained via the Right to Information (RTI) Act of India, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of USA and UK, and documents obtained from other countries (such as Japan and Russia).

For lovers of our history and Netaji, this book is a must-read and an eye-opener. Buy it, read it, speak about it to others. That’s the best respect we can pay to India’s greatest patriot.

[Agnivo Niyogi · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a bid to glorify THE family and Gandhi, Indian Historians have mostly ignored other leaders and freedom fighters. Subhash Chandra Bose, or Netaji, is one of them. Mystery shrouds his last days and officially The Govt Of India has tried to feed us the story of his death by air-crash. That the theory is not correct was proven by Mukherjee Commission. Anuj Dhar deserves great applause for further throwing light on the mystery of the Taihoku crash and how the establishment tried to put an end to Netaji saga. A must read for every Indian.

[Harish Challapalli · Rating 5 out of 5]

How is the book?
Mind blowing and head spinning.. the best non fictitious political historical thriller..
there were instances:

1. where your eyes get moist thinking about “Bharat Mata’s” favourite son and his fate.
2. where your blood boils when u know that a lot of behind the curtain activities were done to hide the truth under the carpet.
3. where your hair raises coming to know about certain revelations.
Some incidents will shatter the earth beneath your legs.
I don’t know if we can process all the info at a time, but take it very slow as “THE CONTENTS IN THIS BOOK ARE INJURIOUS TO YOUR BELIEFS”.

How to read this book?
Always have a pen with you. Underline all the dates, persons and their designations, important revelations. Put the references on the top of every page so that once you read it u can understand what’s in that page.. write the most important people’s names at the back of group and how they are connected with the national hero. All this home work helps because in the middle of the book you may need to refresh your memory as there are mentions of some hundred important people in the book..

Why to read this book?
Mr Anuj Dhar dedicated most of his life to bring out the facts and differentiated those from fiction to present a wonderful trilogy on the person who could have been the most important and powerful person post independence era, if history was a bit generous towards him.
The following are the three books.
1. Back from death.
2. India’s biggest cover up.
3. What happened to Netaji

A big thanks to Dhar. I am eagerly waiting to start the third book of the series.

[Madhurya Yadunath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Netaji Subas Chandra Bose is probably the tallest and the greatest among the freedom fighters of India. Sadly India's distorted written history and what is taught in schools does not give adequate credit to the real heroes of freedom movement. Netaji and INA led by him have an important role in India attaining her freedom. It is really the greatest tragedy that we do not know the true fate of Netaji.

As someone who admires Bose and have always tried to learn more about him through Internet and books,there is not much to go with. If we read something also it is hard to ascertain any credibility to the material. In this regard eternally thankful to Anuj Dhar for giving us such a factual,comprehensive and honest account about Netaji.Every claim is backed by supporting proof and documents. Anuj Dhar gives us his well researched information and lets the reader weigh the evidence and formulate their opinion. An incredible book. Kudos to Anuj Dhar for all the efforts he has put in pursuing the Netaji mystery, researching and writing this book along with so many RTIs.

[Ishani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flabbergasting and exasperating !

Extensively well researched, fact bound book and Anuj Dhar deserves a thousand accolades for this work. This book is far better written than his previous one “Back from The Dead”. In a few chapters the author actually jots down the most obvious questions in a common reader’s mind and answers them categorically.

We all grew up listening to the tales this irrepressible stalwart as one of the greatest heroes of this country. It really becomes incomprehensible to anybody as to how can our own Govt. take a stand as has been taken in case of Netaji! History has been privatized by a group of people.

All said and done, not only he but his entire family stands taller than ever. Netaji remained steps ahead of his contemporaries and world allied forces, he remained unconquerable and left an enigma for generations to come! More than 70yrs and the mystery continues ...

[Samir Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a matter of gross shame to the whole republic, for those citizens, who at least have a minute sense of nationalism and awareness of their rightful duties towards their motherland that their Liberator, the Head of 1st Government, His Excellency, the true Son of this nation lived rest of his life as a 'Gumnaam' person.
Post 'Transfer of Power', this country still remains the slave of divide and rule policy by which they were victimized over a century ago and still choose to remain so by unilaterally inflicted propaganda and incomplete and superficial knowledge of the facts!
I am extremely thankful to Anuj Dhar for exposing the cover up with solid evidences in the book. This is the most sensational book I have ever read.

[Mahadevan Sreenivasan · Rating 3 out of 5]

TL;DR
If you want to read an objective account of Netaji's suspicious disappearance after 1945, then this book is not for you. If you are okay to read with a pair of saffron tinted glasses, proceed below.

Review:

I have mixed feelings about this book. When I started out, I was very optimistic about the way the author started unraveling the mystery with actual citations from Government declassified records about Bose. And that is the best thing I liked about this book. I am fully convinced by the findings of the Mukherjee commission that Netaji never died in the air crash in Taihoku.

The thing I absolutely hated about this book is the author's constant attempt to push his political agenda wherever possible. Before a plot is set, he starts out portraying the characters either black or white. For e.g. Nehru and co are undermined at every possible chance - sometimes without any valid reason. The way the author tries to manipulate the reader into thinking about the plot irritates the reader to no extent who wants a neutral account of the whole mystery.

[Sharat Bandlur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goosebumps - Thats what we Indians get when the topic of discussion is Netaji. The author has made it a point to write it in a systematic way presenting many "Top Secret" and classified records. The extensive work that is gone into writing of this book is visible right from the start. Hats off to the author for presenting this book in an unbiased manner.
INDIA DESERVES AN ANSWER ON NETAJI.

[Geeta Ramani · Rating 5 out of 5]

In "India's biggest cover-up", Anuj Dhar researches and writes about the unknown fate of the Indian leader, Subhas Chandra Bose.
Although the Government believed he was killed in an air crash, certain documents pointed to his escape to Russia, from where he is believed to have entered India and lived an incognito life. Whatever may be the truth, the fact remains that for seventy years after independence, the government of the day did very little to ascertain the truth and instead of celebrating the life and times of the great leader, pushed his memory to ignominy and oblivion.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

When India’s Biggest Cover-up appeared in 2012, it was more than just another book in the crowded market of Subhas Chandra Bose literature — it was a manifesto. Anuj Dhar had been pursuing the Bose mystery for years through Right to Information petitions, cross-border archival research, and a near-obsessive cataloging of anomalies in the official narrative.

In Cover-up, he distilled that pursuit into a single, sustained argument: the Indian state has, for decades, knowingly withheld the truth about Bose’s fate after 18 August 1945. The official story — that Bose died in a plane crash in Taipei — is not just incomplete; it is, Dhar contends, a deliberate fabrication maintained through a mixture of bureaucratic evasion, selective disclosure, and political expedience.

The book is structured like an investigative brief, each chapter laying out a “case file” on one facet of the mystery. Dhar introduces the official version, methodically chips away at its credibility with archival documents, eyewitness accounts, and cross-national corroborations, and then situates the findings in the broader political context of the Cold War and Indo-Soviet relations.

He is not shy about naming names, calling out prime ministers, intelligence agencies, and bureaucrats he believes played a role in suppressing the truth. The result is a work that is as much a piece of political advocacy as it is investigative history. And therein lies both its power and its vulnerability: its narrative drive makes it accessible and persuasive to the general reader, but its selective engagement with counterarguments leaves space for critics to question its conclusions.

If India’s Biggest Cover-up was the launchpad, Conundrum (2019), co-authored with Chandrachur Ghose, is the expansion pack. Where Cover-up was driven by Dhar’s personal voice and focused on dismantling the crash theory, Conundrum broadens the lens.

Ghose brings an academic historian’s sensibility to the collaboration, and together they venture beyond the binaries of “dead in Taiwan” vs. “alive in India” to trace the long afterlife of Bose’s image in Indian politics, intelligence circles, and popular imagination. The book is less about proving a single alternative theory and more about mapping the ecosystem of competing narratives that grew around Bose after 1945.

In Conundrum, the authors not only revisit the archival anomalies from Cover-up but also integrate new material from Russian and Japanese sources, declassified files released after 2016, and oral testimonies. They devote significant space to the figure of “Gumnami Baba,” the mysterious ascetic who lived in Faizabad and whom some claim was Bose in disguise. While maintaining a cautious skepticism, Dhar and Ghose treat this line of inquiry seriously, documenting the circumstantial overlaps between Gumnami Baba’s possessions and Bose’s known artifacts.

The result is a book that is both more sprawling in scope and more nuanced in tone. It acknowledges uncertainty, entertains multiple hypotheses, and situates the Bose mystery in a web of mid-20th-century geopolitics.

The methodological difference between Cover-up and Conundrum is telling. The first is an advocacy-driven dossier aimed at jolting the public into demanding transparency; the second is a layered historiographical exercise, less about delivering a verdict than about mapping the terrain of possibilities. If Cover-up is the courtroom summation, Conundrum is the case’s entire archive laid bare for the reader to examine.

Then came The Bose Deception (2022), another Dhar–Ghose collaboration, but this time with a sharper focus and a more cinematic narrative arc. Drawing on the wave of declassifications from the late 2010s, they plunge deeper into the international dimensions of the Bose story, especially his dealings with Axis powers during World War II and the postwar geopolitical chessboard that might have influenced how his fate was officially recorded. The title itself signals a thematic shift: while Cover-up and Conundrum center the Indian state’s secrecy, The Bose Deception foregrounds the global disinformation environment in which that secrecy operated.

Here, the archival sleuthing is married to a thriller-like pacing. We see Dhar and Ghose weaving intelligence reports, diplomatic cables, and espionage lore into a narrative that sometimes feels closer to le Carré than to traditional history. The book’s core argument is that the official crash narrative served multiple geopolitical masters — not just India’s post-independence governments but also the British, the Soviets, and even the Americans, each with their own reasons to prefer Bose “dead” rather than alive and politically active. It’s a thesis that complicates the picture drawn in Cover-up, expanding the scope of culpability from Delhi’s corridors of power to the world stage.

In The Bose Deception, the Gumnami Baba thread is present but less central. Instead, the authors invest in showing how intelligence services operate, how files get buried or sanitized, and how “official history” is often a curated product of diplomatic necessity. The research is denser, but so is the storytelling. This is Dhar and Ghose writing with the confidence of having spent years in the trenches of this mystery, and it shows: they no longer need to convince the reader that a cover-up exists; they assume it, and move on to unpack its mechanics.

Alongside these three works sits Bose: The Untold Story of an Inconvenient Nationalist (2022), Ghose’s solo project. While Dhar’s solo work has often been investigative and polemical, Ghose’s Untold Story is a full-fledged political biography. It traces Bose’s life from his early years through his rise in the Indian National Congress, his ideological clashes with Gandhi and Nehru, his wartime leadership of the Indian National Army, and the enduring discomfort his legacy poses to the Indian political establishment. The “inconvenient” in the title refers not just to the mystery of his disappearance but to the awkwardness of his politics — militant nationalism, willingness to ally with Axis powers, and disdain for constitutional gradualism — within the sanitized narratives of the freedom struggle.

What makes Untold Story crucial to understanding the Dhar–Ghose collaboration is that it supplies the political and ideological context for the mystery their joint works interrogate. Ghose doesn’t spend the bulk of the book on 1945 or after; instead, he paints Bose as a political actor whose postwar survival would have been deeply destabilizing to the Nehruvian order. In that sense, Untold Story offers the motive to which Cover-up, Conundrum, and The Bose Deception supply the means and opportunity.

Taken together, these four books read almost like a multi-volume investigation unfolding over a decade. India’s Biggest Cover-up lights the fuse, presenting the mystery as an urgent, solvable problem if only the state would open its archives. Conundrum expands the cast of characters and entertains the full range of possibilities, from Soviet custody to hermit-like exile in India. The Bose Deception zooms out to place the mystery in the thick of Cold War espionage and global realpolitik, while Bose: The Untold Story turns the camera back to the man himself, showing why his political afterlife — whether lived or imagined — remains so fraught.

There’s also an evolution in tone and methodology. Dhar’s solo voice is that of the campaigner, the RTI activist hammering at bureaucratic stone walls. Ghose’s solo voice is that of the historian, situating events in long arcs of political culture. Together, they balance each other: Dhar’s sense of urgency keeps the narrative moving, while Ghose’s contextualization prevents it from collapsing into mere speculation. In Conundrum and The Bose Deception, you can see them developing a joint idiom — accessible yet rigorous, provocative yet sourced — that draws in general readers without alienating those familiar with the scholarly debates.

Critically, the works also chart the changing research landscape. India’s Biggest Cover-up was written in a pre-declassification environment, when even basic archival access was a struggle and much of the argument had to be built from partial disclosures, foreign archives, and circumstantial connections. By The Bose Deception, the authors could incorporate newly released files, not to “solve” the case but to refine the parameters of the mystery. This is one reason the later books feel less about overturning a single falsehood and more about mapping a decades-long architecture of obfuscation.

Some threads run consistently through all four works. One is the refusal of successive Indian governments, regardless of party, to fully declassify Bose-related files. Another is the suspicion — sometimes explicit, sometimes implied — that Bose’s survival would have posed a political threat to the post-independence establishment, making his erasure, whether through actual death or official narrative, a matter of political convenience. And underpinning all of it is a shared conviction that history written under conditions of state secrecy is, at best, provisional.

If there is a limitation to the corpus, it lies in the speculative nature of the ultimate question: what exactly happened to Subhas Chandra Bose after August 1945? None of the books claims to have the final answer, though Cover-up comes closest to staking a strong position.

Instead, the cumulative achievement of Dhar and Ghose’s work is to demonstrate, with mounting evidence, that the official answer cannot be trusted. In doing so, they shift the burden of proof back onto the state, insisting that transparency is not just an academic matter but a democratic imperative.

In the end, reading these four books in sequence is less like watching a mystery solved than like watching a camera lens pull back, revealing more and more of the terrain. What begins in India’s Biggest Cover-up as a locked-room mystery — a single event on a single day in 1945 — becomes, by The Bose Deception, a panoramic tableau of intersecting forces: wartime alliances, Cold War diplomacy, domestic political consolidation, and the politics of memory. Bose: The Untold Story ensures that amidst the intrigue, the historical Bose — flawed, forceful, and politically inconvenient — remains at the center.

For those drawn to the Bose mystery purely for the drama of an unsolved historical case, Dhar’s solo Cover-up still offers the most direct hit of adrenaline. For readers who want the bigger picture, Conundrum is the map, The Bose Deception is the geopolitical thriller, and Bose: The Untold Story is the biography that makes sense of the stakes.

Together, they form not just a record of one of modern India’s most persistent historical controversies, but also a testament to how two researchers, coming from different temperaments, can build a body of work that is greater than the sum of its parts.

[Harshit Pant · Rating 4 out of 5]

a few words....HOLY F*** is what this book reveals. This book is what a mystery thriller is supposed to feel like except this book is non-fiction which makes it scary. If we had Titans like New York Times or Washington Post in India, this would have come out long long ago....and shattered the stories we have been fed in the name of Indian History. This book and honestly the Netaji mystery is a Pandora's box, open it and everything abt India changes forever. Its a great indication in favor of the book's contents(which look unbelievable) that the writer, who was a former journalist has now dedicated his life to this cause....and is pursuing it even today when UP is ruled by BJP in 2018. If the rabbit hole as is hinted at in the book is pursued then who know what dark secrets about our past will be revealed. I feel now after reading this that the Congress party is way smarter/cunning(almost Illuminati levels) than previously we gave it credit for.

[Rohan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book circulated very important information for past Cong leader. Mahatma Gandhi & J.L.Nehru They are knows all things for Netaji but they know if Netaji come out then they could not took Priministership. All Cong leader was corrupted.Very sad our great leader we were missing suddenly. Good book

[Divya · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's sad that India hasn't had a closure to Netaji's mystery!! It is interesting to read about the various controversial theories around his "disappearance".
The book itself is very thorough with every piece of information out there. I probably didn't need so much information, nevertheless, as an investigative report the book is a great resource.

[Harikrishna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anuj Dhar explains in this book how the government of India, after attaining Independence tried to cover up the real story behind the death of Subhash Chandra Bose. Also, it questions why did the government didn't consider commission report on the death of Subhash Chandra Bose death

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"With India becoming free in August 1947, the Bose mystery was put on the back-burner in the face of urgent and far bigger challenges. Migration of Habibur Rahman to Pakistan dealt a blow to all those who were hoping to extract more out of a man they thought was bound by oath to tell only as much Bose had told him to.

"Before he was assassinated in 1948, Gandhi—a senior journalist told me—rebuked Nehru and Patel for not being able to reign in the partition madness and wished that his “other son [Subhas] was here!” Reminded by a Congressman, who had witnesses the dressing down, that Bose was dead and he had himself come to hold that belief, Gandhi shot back: “He’s in Russia”.

"Forget what he announced after meeting Rahman, in his private conversations Gandhi continued to be confident that Bose was alive. For decades his unpublicised remarks—such as “Rahman gave me a soldier’s statement”—remained unsubstantiated. That held good till the early 1990s when Seeley G Mudd Manuscript Library at the Princeton University revealed a proof. Personal papers of pro-India American journalist and Gandhi’s biographer Louis Fischer yielded a letter, written subsequent to his meeting Gandhi on 20 July 1946. On behalf of Gandhi, his secretary and granddaughter of Dadabhai Naoroji, Khurshed Naoroji, warned Fischer on July 22 that “if Bose comes with the help of Russia neither Gandhiji nor the Congress will be able to reason with the country”. [80]"

It was this level of deliberate a lie told India by Congress governments for decades!

And for what? Just so they do not have to relinquish power to someone honest, uncompromising and revered by India he loved, they'd rather let him remain incarcerated in Siberia and even die without a noise!
*****

Author repeatedly mentions TN Kaul in the context of government control over Shah Nawaz Khan committee. Would this be a vote relative of the PM? Shiela Kaul, another high level government member, was referred to as Mami; was TN Kaul Mama, or a cousin?

Not according to Wikipedia which mentions no such specifics, although wiki dies mention such a close relationship for Sheila Kaul; but it's not conclusively absence of relationship for TN Kaul, for whom Wikipedia mentions a horrific diatribe against him at length from Moynihan, against his appointment as ambassador to US, calling him various unpleasant names because he was a Kashmir Brahman, which all amounts rather to expose Moynihan in particular and US in general as their having expected slavelike servility from India.
*****

One has to wonder if government knew that Netaji was already in, or about to arrive into, India, was now a Sadhu, and hence put up a false one, so people get confused.

" ... By 1960, Shaulmari sadhu had become the talk of the nation. He smoked expensive cigarettes and conversed in Bangla and English. Getting an access to him was tough as the ashram administration insisted on tardy bureaucratic procedures. Rumours spread thick and fast that Saradanand was actually Subhas Bose in disguise."

Author writes about several former associates of Netaji asserting the two being same.

Which brings one to think, perhaps another author on subject of Netaji who opined yesterday a body double of Netaji could impersonate him as a Sadhu, might be correct in this Coochbehar case, although not in the Ayodhya case which he was referring to.
*****

Author exposes his very westernised educational roots in the mistake here.

" ... It is a curious paradox to have your first name “Bhola”—Hindi for naïve—when you are the big daddy of spies."

He's talking of Bholanath Mullick; as per inexplicable fashion north of Vindhya, perhaps following British routine with Hindu names,, often a first name is split and so written in two parts - here, Bhola Nath - but, nevertheless (as every Indian knows in this and in most other cases), the first name isn't Bhola, it's Bholanath. And while the part Bhola is relevant, Bholanath means Shiva, the God.
*****

"Post-Shah Nawaz inquiry, Mochizuki became restless. In July 1957 he wrote to Nehru “whether the Government of India would now, in view of the inquiry committee report, like to consider the question of bringing the ashes back”. He was this time told by the embassy officials that the controversy “had not yet ended” for several Bose family members and so the ashes could not be taken to India.

"In November 1957 the aging priest again wrote to the Prime Minister, saying “Netaji’s soul is anxious to return to his fatherland as soon as possible”. He was backed by the Japanese government. The Indian embassy was told that it was “not the custom In Japan for ashes to be kept continuously in temples”. The embassy official spoke of the fix the Indian government was caught in:

"There has been no request from either Mr Bose’s family in Austria or his relatives in India and they may be embarrassed by having these ashes in India since, among Hindus, the ashes are cast into a river or otherwise scattered."

This point about embarrassment is incorrect; perhaps a convenient lie? Bose family in Calcutta would, if they were convinced of truth of the ashes being his, liked to proceed with rites including immersion in Ganga; his family in Austria would perhaps have liked to keep an urn of ashes (not bones, ashes) and have a monument, or concurred with Bose family in Calcutta about Hindu rites.

But the main point has always been about identity, identification of the ashes, not about anything else.
*****

"Rather than going hyper about Touradjev’s crass assessment, the government officials should have dismissed it out of hand. Actually, in 1988 Touradjev’s article was translated and reproduced in a special commemoration volume brought out by Kolkata’s Scottish Church College, Bose’s alma mater. No one took the demeaning inferences seriously."

That is comment on the said college, even without author making it clear that no one took it seriously, which is a matter of course.
*****

One really doesn't know what the author could possibly have, after he has given a succinct summary at the very introduction, of the repeated denials by the Government of India and efforts to deny all possibilities in face of evidence otherwise, of existence of Netaji on earth past August 1945; a few chapters are details thereof, and it's more than worthwhile reading, even necessary as an eye opener for those retaining any innocent trust.

The revelations begin thereafter, from story of arrival of Bhagwanji, the holy man in Ayodhya reputed to be Netaji. Still, once one has accepted the possibility or even likelihood, one expects more about the transformed, not the younger, self.

Perhaps the author isn't equal to that aspect, although he does of necessity give some clues.

But the zingers, beyond expectations, are where further disclosures come, in form of Bhagwanji’s revelations regarding activities of his younger self and more.
*****

Author questions the report of intelligence inquiries regarding Bhagwanji being not made available to Mukherjee Commission.

Author mentions about CIA taking cognizance of Raj Narain being affected by Bhagwanji passing on, to the extent that he was hospitalised, in 1986, having been firmly of the opinion that it was Netaji. He argues that if CIA was taking notice, intelligence agencies of India were unlikely to be totally oblivious, regardless of the view anyone had of Raj Narain.

Author mentions being told by more than one journalist, when he visited the area, of being dissuaded by some IB operatives from delving too closely into the mystery of the holy man reputed to be Netaji.

He quotes IB being questioned by Khosla Commission on this, and denying it, to the extent possible.
*****

Perhaps those are the reasons, if one believes any of it, - and there seems no reason not to if, in the first place one acceptsthe identificationof the two - why his family in Austria was of inclinations they were, even if opposed seemingly to one another.

If Netaji was so active during the post war, post independence decades, when the government of India was busy denying any possibility of his having survived 1945, then a definite possibility, even likelihood, is that his wife Emilie was kept informed by him, and thus completely unwilling to entertain the entreaties by government of India to state opposite to concur in their endeavors to establish their position.

It's equally natural, in this light, that his daughter on the other hand only thought of a little peace for Bose clan instead, replacing the surveillance by the Government, and perhaps also of a tad more security for the father, too, as a result.

And, last but not least, if one accepts the identification, then perhaps the communication from Netaji to his wife need not have involved any material whatsoever.
*****


" ... Nehru’s stirring "Tryst with Destiny" speech had not a word about the man but for whom the day would not have come in 1947", author points out.

He points out that when constituent assembly decided to have portrait of Gandhi and H.V. Kamath pleaded that portraits of Lokamanya Tilak and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose be added, Rajendra Prasad just cut him out.
*****

Author answers those who site paucity of funds as deterrent to investigation in question of Netaji’s disappearance in 1945, with discussion of extravagant expenditures on monuments in Delhi to one family; and logic of "why bother about someone who isn't going to return", by applying that to all cases where it's equally applicable - namely, every murder across globe, regardless of stature of victim.
*****

Repeatedly, one is reminded while reading about the actions of government of India for over six decades after independence, of JFK, and author brings it up, quoting some portions of the final arrangements by Jim Garrison as depicted in the film.

He speaks of JFK act of 1992 in US as a consequence. He quotes Robert gates speaking with tears about hope of open information helping to get rid of suspicions about his agency.

One must say, it's unconvincing, if one has seen the gilm, so faultlessly written - one somehow suspects that if they did fo it, it would very possibly be left secret even despite all legislation about open information.

And the history of government of India acting regarding Netaji’s disappearance and question of his being alive, as delineated by author so far, only serves to strengthen that suspicion rather information a certainty.
*****

Author here gives a personal wish list, which includes a similar act in India, to be named appropriately after Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, beginning, with government of India declaring Netaji the first head of government of free India, and express gratitude to Japan for help.
*****

Author talks of Ramamurti, Ayer and Takakura, who was reportedly threatened by the former for years.

Ramamurti and his brother were seen by Japanese to be living in luxury in post war era when wealthy Japanese found times hard, author mentions.

Author quotes correspondence between Indian mission in Tokyo, Governor of Bombay and the PMO, with clear implication that Figges was involved too in the theft of INA treasure.
*****

The then PM Jawaharlal Nehru refuted a suggestion that the treasure finally recovered and brought to India be sent yo bose family to be exhibited in the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose museum they planned to set up in his birthplace, Cuttack.

Nehru wrote against it claiming it as an excuse that the Bose family had not accepted that Netaji was dead.

But he did call it "rather cheap jewellery chiefly silver and gold articles rather broken up", having seen it, with nary a thought for the thousands of Indians who had donated everything they could, to help in efforts of the man they trusted, to fight for freedom of India.

One has to question the stories fed to India since Independence about Nehru family having donated all yo India, if he saw gold and jewellery worth Rs 90,000/- in early fifties, and thought it was cheap.
*****

Author begins on the question with war criminals, a question by Thevar to Shah Nawaz Khan, who sent him out to deliberate with foreign office official before calling him back, only to say that government of India did not know; this enraged Thevar, whoo rightly retorted asking why he should cooperate with a government that lacked power to protect its citizens.

Author next mentions a query by Indian people to UN in 1997, answered by Tharoor on behalf of Kofi Annan, that UN lacked the power to remove a name from a list by member Nation.

Author next presents the list by British government of India, which has several INA and Azad Hind officials names, but points out that they were army officers, while Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was a civilian.

Author has, like another writer on the subject of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, has mentioned a US journalist of WWII era clamoring about Netaji’s being war criminal because "he killed Americans"; this should make all participants of US Civil War effectively War criminals, and so should the few hundred or so accused of murders in US every year, or at least those convicted; but in all fairness, the logic must extend beyond US victims, in which case UK war criminals list could be headed by George Washington. Then one could consider war criminals lists by Iraq and Afghanistan, after one by Vietnam.
*****

Perhaps not as surprisingly as one might think, author finds it outrageous that a witness testified that Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah and Maulana Azad had all agreed to hand over Netaji, if and when he returned, to British authorities.

Not as surprising because a good many people, while acidic about faults of Jawaharlal Nehru, are still treating Gandhi as touchstone of virtue bordering on saintliness.

Whatever the truth about that, fact remains that, among other great things that can be said on the other dide, it's also indubitably a fact that when Gandhi's consent and cooperation was needed and he could have set his terms, or at least held out, he made a mild gesture only, of asking for Bhagat Singh and others' sentences to be reconsidered, and when denied, promptly signed.

It's equally undeniable that after each massacre, Kerala, Noakhali or East Pakistan, he advised Hindus to duffer it with love for those massacred them, but not flee; he in fact demanded that government of India force refugees to return, even if certain to be massacred, and meanwhile evicted in dead cold of midwinter on streets of Delhi from the only shelters they had found, old, women, children, babies and all, just so those muslims who had remained or returned could enjoy a feast - and not only this was done by police using sticks to beat the homeless refugees who had lost homes, homelands and far more, but then he joined those feasting for the celebration.

Author says that witness had no evidence. He should know that not all evidence is documented certification with notarized signatures.
................................................................................................


Author next goes into whether Vijaylaxmi Pandit and Radhakrishnan, two first ambassadors of India to USSR, knew of presence of Bose in Russia.

The section after discusses allegation the effect that Nehru pocketed the INA treasure. Author quotes Subramanian Swamy on this, ending with the value - two trunks filled with 2 crores, and 20 crores, respectively, worth gold and diamond jewellery, that were deposited to Nehru’s account and never heard of again., as per Dr Subramanian Swamy.
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[Nithin V A · Rating 4 out of 5]

India's Biggest Cover-Up throws light on various theories regarding the disappearance of Netaji. This can not be dismissed as a collection of conspiracies as Dhar presented it actual documents obtained from various sources. This book calls for the declassification of various top secret records in India and other countries even after all these years.

This is a good read if you are interested in Bose mystery, author could have avoided excessive condemnation of various people throughout the book, especially 30 page condemnation of Sugata Bose and his book 'his majesty's opponent'

[Abhineet · Rating 5 out of 5]

ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTION: Well researched, argumentative uncovering of a mystery.

India's biggest cover-up is an investigative insight into the Netaji’s mystery, penned down by Anuj Dhar (an independent journalist and researcher) and published in 2012. Now honestly speaking the first few chapters are a bit slow and might get confusing at times, all credit goes to its non linear timeline and an introduction of over 50 personalities at a very early phase of the reading. (Not more than 5 of them are worth remembering.

The next few chapters showcase a chronological storytelling of how each and every government dealt with the whole Netaji situation. The flaws in the observations of Shah Nawaz Committee (1956) and G.D. Khosla commission (1970) are very briefly explained with their motives clearly defined. Dhar also talks about the Mukherjee Commission (2005) and its findings, citing 200 documents and using many declassified and still-classified documents (90). All the investigations mentioned above, carried out by various agencies and individuals are dissected with the precision of a surgeon, and the flaws are elaborately explained.
Now 200 pages down with this book come a definitive moment where the author starts projecting his personal narrative of Netaji not dying in the aircraft disaster. He tries to shift our focus towards the most controversial viewpoint of Bose being the “Gumnami Baba” from the mid – 80s. Surprisingly this very narrative actually makes the book a page – turner and might eventually increase one’s innate desire to do some research on personal level.

However things get a tad bit obsessive, with Mr Dhar talking about Bose being alive at 115 (2012 - The Time when this book was published) . The very title of this chapter gave me a whole clickbait vibe, despite the author throwing a logical explanation behind this narrative.

Now describing the political angle behind this book, I would like to use my favorite wordplay. Mr Dhar has been SUBSTANTIALLY (NOT EQUALLY) critical about both the governments. He half – heartedly admits the fact that not many government officials are concerned about the Bose mystery anymore. He even presents a wish list of ten things that is needed to be done to compensate what the government of India did to Mr bose, based on the present political scenario most of these wishes look far – fetched.

[Suman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I completed this book to-day, and the day is significant as it is the birth-anniversary of the person on whom the book is all about.
I have doubts how many of the contemporary young generation knows about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, one of the greatest sons of India ever. Now-a-days, I read in newspapers, that some other person of regional political background is referred to as ‘Netaji’, probably a synonym in Hindi for a ‘leader’. Moreover, we often hear quite a few spokesperson of a particular old Indian political establishment keeps on referring to the contribution of their party on obtaining independence for India. However, how many of the current generation really knows about the leaders of this political party from pre-independence era. I can bet not many. We too often hear and read about 'NRIG' along with infrequent mention of 'MG', as if only those few gave India her independence from British colonial rule. I would urge young Indians to read about other pre-independence leaders along with Netaji, and specially this book which throws light on the continuing tangle about one of the great freedom fighters of India.

[Suraj Patil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Netaji is supposed to have died in a crash in Taipei but the supposed crash never happened, it seems that even the photo given as evidence of the crash was an old photo, the biggest mystery of free India is the fate of one of the greatest freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra bose. The author, in a compelling way, has presented facts, out of which even 10% are true, then all the history we learnt in our beloved schools, which wasn't much, is a utter waste of time, and we unfortunately don't know the real history that happened, and how India's greatest son sacrificed everything and lived as a nameless monk in the very country he helped get Independent. INA is the reason we are what we are today, if it weren't for the INA trials which gone bad, British wouldn't have ever left India, Gandhiji did a good job of non violence movement, but he alone wouldn't have been able to attain Independence and plus he was saintly, Netaji was the force of violence which went along the non violence agenda of Gandhiji and together we got freedom.

[Akhila · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling research work on the mystery behind Subhas Chandra Bose's death which many still beleive did not happen as the people of the country know it as. It touches on the chronicles of every inquiry undertaken to get to the root of the truth and details every move that was taken in relation to Bose post his supposed death in 1945 in a plane crash in Taihoku, Taipei currently. The staunch followers of Netaji still beleive that he was never given his due respect for all the sacrificies he made for the freedom of India unlike the much celebrated leaders, Nehru and Gandhi whom the author's research paints a not so good picture about.
The book could be a tiring read at times since it's loaded with information beyond that we can comprehend.

[Ravi Jain · Rating 5 out of 5]

The nation cried on August 21st1945, when the news of Netaji SC Bose’s death reached India. Many believed in the news but a few knew there was something amiss. They would never accept this incident to be true and would make it the purpose of their life to uncover the truth.This book is one such attempt by an independent researcher, Anuj Dhar, to bring out the true facts behind Netaji’s disappearance, the reasons and the consequences.

Full Review: India's Biggest Cover-up review on BookGeeks.in

[Bharath · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very important book for this generation to understand and cherish the struggles of the patriot Subash Chandra Bose. The book also elicits with relevant facts the mystery surrounding his disappearance after 1945; however the book is not highly readable. My lower vote is only a reflection of the book's readability and not a reflection of its facts and content. I feel the author is truly inspired by Netaji and the book is very well written. Whether all these details are needed for everyone to understand the whole mystery could be another question relevant to all readers.

[Saurav Mandal · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seventy years of independence, we're unaware of the fate of Netaji. In other countries, government make efforts to give their freedom fighters their due respect, sadly in our country the successive Congress govts has made efforts to hide the facts. Anuj Dhar and others are making constant effort to bring justice to the leader. We should also do our part. Being Indians, we have the right to know the truth and sooner or later truth shall prevail.

[Sreemoyee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read.. A must read for every Indian to uncover the true history of the freedom struggle and the great hero..kudos to the writer and his friends for such terrific research work and patience to follow up with the govt bodies to extract information.

[Visweswaran Chidambaram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Right from my childhood I was curious to know what happened to Netajii.. This book throws some light on it.
I find this book too hard to digest as it contains too many characters...and i kept loosing the plot as i read...

[Sambasivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has asked quite a few pertinent questions that raise significant doubts on the air crash theory causing the untimely demise of Netaji. Twomalternate theories are proposed both of which sound too fantastic to be true. Excellent piece of investigative journalism.

[Rajesh Mehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. The writer has put in a lot hours doing research. Since most of us were either too young or ignorant as to what all transpired between late eighteen to late nineties, it will be an eye opener.

[Divya Vk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read my review of India's biggest cover up here:
http://youngindian.in/2013/03/indias-...

[Dikshita]

It shades light on the conspiracy of indian politics on mystery of Subhash chandra bose providing 100's of facts and figures over the years and system's negligence over analyzing them rightfully.

[Vijay Rayasam · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was just by chance that I happened to see an interview of the author where he was discussing Netaji, and that is when I got to know about his work around this mystery. I am so happy that I decided to buy this book and few other books of the author.

If I am to summarize the book in one word, it would be “flabbergasting”. The author has taken a lot of pains to make the readers know about each and every detail of the story. The author has touched upon every aspect, every piece of news no matter how trivial it is, all the committees and commissions that were ever set in this regard, which are again extensively research, discussed and analyzed (with facts). Though I have not read much about Netaji before, I feel it won’t be wrong to say that this piece of work could be like a “Geeta” pertaining to this mystery.

The readers get to see the images of all archived top-secret letters that were then written and exchanged in this regard, which are now made public. The author himself has filed numerous RTIs to extract details about some very important issues and has also published the responses he received. The best part of this book is that the reader won’t feel that the author has any preconceived notions, or the book is trying to establish any fact regarding the fate of Netaji. The author has put all facts in front of the readers so that it is more for them to decide.

One thing is for sure, our country is indeed a land of mysteries. The more we dig, the more mysteries, conspiracy theories we come across. The way Netaji was treated after his disappearance is shocking and shameful. One of the most ridiculous things that I felt was to know, that the then Government of India was more interested and quite quick in its responses in knowing the whereabouts of the INA treasure rather than Netaji himself.

A lot can be said about the book, but I don’t want to include any possible spoilers. I would recommend everyone to read this book and spread the story of Netaji to everyone around you. Let him get the due respect which he always deserved.