Government has 160 files on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, under review for declassification

NEW DELHI: The Government has 160 files on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, a majority of which remain classified, and all these files are being examined for the purpose of declassifying them, government has told Parliament on Wednesday.

The Home Ministry is in possession of 12 such files, three of which are still classified, while the Prime Minister's Office has 58 Netaji files in its possession of which 41 are still classified.

The Foreign Ministry has the maximum 90 classified files related to Netaji, the government has said. All classified records, 990 files in number, with the Defence Ministry pertaining to Indian National Army were declassified and transferred to National Archives of India in 1997, the government said.

"Government is examining all files in its custody for the purpose of declassifying the same," the government has told Parliament. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced in October that the process of declassification of files relating to Netaji will begin on January 23, 2016, the birth anniversary of Subhash Chandra Bose.

This was after he had met the relatives of Netaji at his official residence in New Delhi. This came after the West Bengal government had declassified 64 files related to Netaji, which were in the possession of the Kolkata police and West Bengal police.