Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Family Seeks DNA Test Of Ashes Kept In Japan

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's grandnephew made a fresh appeal to authorities to facilitate DNA testing of the ashes that have been kept at Renkoji temple in Japan.

Seven decades have passed since Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose went missing on this date in 1945, with many historians suggesting that he might have died in a plane crash, but the recurring demand to bring back his purported remains from a temple in Japan for DNA examination has not been met with thus far. The freedom fighter's grandnephew, Surya Kumar Bose, issued a statement on Tuesday, making a fresh appeal to authorities to facilitate DNA testing of the ashes that have been interred in Renkoji temple, in an attempt to put a lid on the controversies surrounding his "disappearance". Several theories have persisted since Netaji went missing, with some experts having claimed that he did not die in the crash and lived in disguise till death. Surya Kumar Bose, who lives in Germany, said, "Almost two decades ago in the course of the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry (JMCI), a precious opportunity to conduct a DNA test, and to bring the remains of Netaji home to his beloved motherland, was sadly lost. According to the JMCI Report, the Renkoji authorities were not willing to allow a DNA test of the alleged remains."