Website on Netaji's last days launched in United Kingdom

LONDON: A new website providing documentary evidence of the last days of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose was launched here today.

The www.bosefiles.info website dedicated to the freedom fighter and Supreme Commander of the Indian National Army (INA) aims to debunk numerous conspiracy theories surrounding Netaji's death.

The website, launched by UK-based independent journalist and Bose's grandnephew Ashis Ray, said that its purpose is "to chronicle the truth about what happened to Subhas Chandra Bose, based on 25 years of investigation and research into this subject."

"The site is dedicated to the people of India, millions of whom still worship Subhas (Bose), to (his wife) Emilie Schenkl, who died in 1996 without closure on the matter (of the mystery about his end), and (to his daughter) Dr Anita Pfaff," the website explains in its 'About' section.

Bose is believed to have died after a plane crash in Taiwan in 1945.

His daughter and sole heir Dr Pfaff, who lives in Germany, accepts this as a credible explanation. But a majority of his extended family in India dispute the story and instead claims he escaped to the Soviet Union.

In October, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an assurance to a section of Bose's relatives that he will raise the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he meets him in Moscow later this month.

As part of a staggered release of documents, the website has started by posting documents from files of the Indian Embassy in Moscow and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs which establish that Bose never went to the Soviet Union in or after 1945.

"I urge people to visit the website and judge for themselves the merit of the documents that have and will be disclosed," said Ray, who launched the website to release documents in his possession.