BERLIN : Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s daughter seeks DNA test on remains

BERLIN : Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s daughter, Anita Bose Pfaff, said on Monday that she was ready for a DNA test on the contents of the urn at Renkoji temple in Tokyo, which could scientifically prove that the remains were his, making it easier to bring it back home.

The remains, including ashes, bones and teeth, presumably that of the leader, have been preserved at the temple after Netaji’s believed death in Taihoku on August 18, 1945 in an air crash. But the contents of the urn – and the circumstances of his death – have spawned several theories. Almost every member of the extended Bose family wants a DNA test to settle the matter once and for all.

“Modern technology now offers the means for sophisticated DNA-testing, provided DNA can be extracted from the remains,” Bose Pfaff, 79, who is settled in Germany, said in a statement she issued as the nation was celebrating 75 years of Independence.

“To those who still doubt that Netaji died on 18th August 1945, it offers a chance to obtain scientific proof that the remains kept at Renkoji Temple in Tokyo are his.”

She mentioned that the priest of the temple and the Japan government had agreed to such a test, as the annexures of the last governmental Indian investigation into Netaji’s death (the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry) show.

‘May Netaji’s dearest wish be fulfilled’
Netaji’s daughter Anita Bose Pfaff, seeking a DNA test into the remains preserved at Tokyo’s Renkoji temple, said it would help bring the leader’s remains back home.

“Today we have access to the originally classified inquiries of 1945 and 1946. They show that Netaji died in a foreign country on that day. Japan has provided a ‘temporary’ home to his remains at Renkoji Temple in Tokyo, cared for in devotion by three generations of priests, and honoured by the Japanese people,” she said, adding that as Netaji’s only child, she felt obliged to ensure that his dearest wish, to return to his country in freedom, would at last be fulfilled.

“All Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, who can now live in freedom, constitute Netaji’s family! I invite you to support my efforts to bring Netaji home!” she wrote in her statement.