New Delhi: Indians in Far East had donated “considerable quantities of gold and treasure" to Subhas Chandra Bose as part of the war efforts, according to the new set of 25 declassified files on Netaji that was released on Wednesday.
Among the released files is a Ministry of External affairs note of 1951 on INA treasures which suggests that Netaji carried a part of these treasures with him on his ill-fated flight from Saigon to Tokyo. The remaining treasures were left in Saigon, southern Vietnam, now renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
'Considerable quantities of gold and treasure were given to Subhas Chandra Bose by Indians in the Far East as part of their war effort,' the MEA document read.
7 kg 900 grams of comparatively pure gold in two wooden boxes were recovered from the plane in which Netaji was believed to be traveling in 1945.
Another 3 kg 100 grams of gold mixed with molten metal iron were also recovered from the ill-fated plane, the MEA note added.
Union Culture Secretary N K Sinha released the fifth batch of 25 declassified files relating to Bose whose disappearance over 70 years ago remains a mystery.
Latest lot of files takes the total number of declassified files by Centre to 225.
"The fifth batch of 25 declassified files relating to #NetajiSubhasChandraBose was released online on web portal http://www.netajipapers.gov.in today," Union Culture and Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said in a tweet.
The present batch of 25 files consists of two files from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) (1951 to 1953), 14 files from Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)(1956-2008) and nine files of the Cabinet Secretariat (1956 to 2006), which run into 2248 pages.
The new files include report of Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry on the alleged disappearance of Bose and Action Taken Report of 2006.
The new batch of files consists among others files containing photographs of interior view of Renkoji Temple showing how Netaji's ashes are kept, Russia Parliament question on Netaji and letter from Amiya Nath Bose to Pt Jawaharlal Nehru regarding conversion of Netaji's house into National museum and disposal of properties of Indian National army.
The government had earlier released four files including on May 27 from the Prime Minister’s Office, from the Home Ministry, and also from the External Affairs Ministry pertaining to the period 1968 to 2008.
The government has earlier released three batches of files pertaining to Bose in March and April this year.
The first lot of 100 files relating to Bose were put in the public domain by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 23, on the occasion of the 119th birth anniversary of Netaji.
The second lot of 50 files, third set of 25 files and fourth batch of 25 files were released subsequently on 29 March, 2016, 29 April, 2016 and 27 May, 2016 respectively.
(With inputs from agencies)
