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Centre to order fresh inquiry into Netaji's disappearance

A commission of inquiry will be appointed to probe the 'disappearance' of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

This was decided at a meeting of the Union Cabinet in New Delhi today.

The meeting also took three other important decisions on fixing the minimum support price for jute, extending the term of the statutory development boards in Maharashtra, and revising upward the project cost of the naphtha-fuelled Jhakri hydropower project in Himachal Pradesh.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan, briefing the press after the meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said the fresh inquiry was in deference to demands made by the people of Bengal, a suggestion by the Calcutta high court, and a unanimous resolution adopted by the Bengal assembly.

Netaji, who fought the British at the head of his Indian National Army, was last seen at Bangkok airport on August 16, 1945. He is believed to have died in an air crash near Formosa (now Taiwan) and his ashes are reported to be kept in a Buddhist temple in Japan.

Mahajan said the Cabinet meeting decided to request the chief justice of India to spare a judge of the Supreme Court or any high court to head the commission of inquiry.

The commission will have its headquarters in Delhi and will be asked to submit its findings in six months, he added.

UNI

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