Allahabad high court seeks probe into identity of man believed to have been Netaji

Netaji ashes at a Tokyo's Renkoji Temple

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of theAllahabad high court on Thursday expressed surprise on the Centre's reluctance in conducting the DNA test of ash kept at Tokyo's Renkoji Temple to set at rest the doubts and controversy, whether the ash is of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose or not. It also put the Centre in the dock for rejecting Justice MK Mukherjee Commission's November 8, 2005 report without assigning any reason, which had found that Netaji had not died in the plane crash and the ashes in Renkoji Temple were not of Netaji. 

Amid the belief that Gumnaami Baba alias Bhagwanji, who lived in Faizabad at Ram Bhawan was Netaji himself and the fact gained momentum from the articles recovered from his residence after his death on September 18, 1985, the bench has directed the Uttar Pradesh government to constitute a panel of experts to probe into the matter to establish the identity of Gumnaami Baba as to whether he was Netaji or not. 

A division bench comprising Justice Devi Prasad Singh and Justice Virendra Kumar Dixit directed the state government to establish a museum at Faizabad to preserve the articles of Gumnaami Baba. It also issued directives to the Centre and state to re-possess the articles of Gumnaami Baba from the Mukherjee Commission and hand them over to the museum. The court has directed the chief secretary to take action on its verdict and apprise it of the status after four months. 

In 1986, Netaji's niece Lalita Bose along with Dr MA Haleem, the vice-president of All India Socialist Party and Vishwabandhav Tiwari, the vice-president of All India Subhash Mukti Vahini had filed a writ petition seeking inquiry into the identity of Gumnaami Baba. Lalita had also demanded if Gumnaami Baba was found to be Netaji, she should be given right on his property. In 2010, another petition filed by Subhash Chandra Bose Rashtriya Vichar Kendra, Faizabad through its secretary Shakti Singh demanded photography of the articles of Gumnaami Baba kept at Faizabad treasury and return of articles from Mukherjee Commission to UP and to be kept at a national museum or be handed over to the petitioners' society itself. 

After 27 years, the high court allowed the petitions, which have once again re-surfaced Netaji's death mystery. In its verdict, the bench commented on the Centre's response to the Mukherjee Commission's report and said that the Centre did not assign any reason why it rejected the commission's report, but since the petitioners have not sought any relief against the Centre's apathy, it was refraining itself from issuing directions to the Centre for appointment of fresh commission. 

The bench took note of the Mukherjee Commission's action of taking into possession various articles of Gumnaami Baba from his residence. The court said that the facts that on the birth anniversary of Netaji on January 23, celebrations would take place as Gumnaami Baba's residence, and that books, documents and other literature as well as the materials collected by writer Anuj Dhar and published in Northern India Patrika after death of Gumnaami Baba make a prima facie case for probe with regard to his identity. 

"The state and Centre should look into it to remove doubts with regard to Gumnaami Baba by holding appropriate inquiries. From the material on record, it appears that Gumnaami Baba was not an ordinary person. Family members of Netaji, friends and relatives from Kolkata had been regular visitor to Ram Bhawan," said the bench. 

Burden lies on UP government to hold inquiry to establish identity of Gumnaami Baba who lived and died in Ayodhya. It is also for the state government to preserve and protect household articles left by Gumnaami Baba, observed the bench.