It's been 73 years since Bose was declared dead but the mystery still hasn't died down. These four theories about the mysterious death of Subhas Chandra Bose probably hold the key to what happened to the firebrand Independence leader.
Will we ever know the truth? Possibly not. But it does make for some great conspiracy theory-ing!
The most common myth and something that is widely believed is what was stated in an RTI reply to Sayak Sen by the government of India. Considering the reports from the Shanawaz Committee, the government said that he died in a plane crash in Taiwan along with Japanese General Shidei on August 18, 1945, and that his body was cremated the same day and the ashes were taken to a Buddhist temple in Tokyo, which eventually led to other controversies as follows
According to the book authored by Maj Gen G D Bakshi, Bose: The Indian Samurai - Netaji and the INA Military Assessment Netaji didn't die in a plane crash, but the theory was floated to facilitate his escape to the Soviet Union. So, while clarifying the mystery of his death this book says he died during the torture by the British in prison
Paris-based historian JBP More quoted reports from the France Secret Service which once said that Bose was still alive in 1947, In the report it clearly stated that he was the ex-chief of the Indian Independence league and also a member of Hikari Kikan, a Japanese organisation. While the British and India stayed strong to the point that he died while replying to an RTI application in a plane crash, the French never endorsed that theory
There existed a theory which also said that Bose returned to India and lived as a hermit in Faizabad in Oudh with a different name (Bhagwanji or Gumnami Baba) the incognito man who lived till 1985. Bose IS also believed to have left behind a number of his trunks
