7. Some Theories and Hypotheses (...cont'd)

The witness suited his action to the words, by performing a brief terpsichorean act. The examination of the witness proceeded thus:

Commission: Did a crowd collect there?
Shri Dixit: Not at all, because we were only three, the guard, Netaji and I. I forgot to tell him anything because of joy at that time for two minutes. I was so much overjoyed.
Commission: He also watched you dance?
Shri Dixit: He laughed very loudly, he burst into laughter. Then, after that, Sir, I said to him, 'You are here. Have you come to know of the tragedy which happened to me.' He said, 'Yes, I know, You were going to be shot dead by the British spies. And they are British spies. I have already this information with me.'

7.34 Dixit said that he had a long discussion with Bose on that occasion. He told him that he (Dixit) had been approached by conspirators, who had planned Mahatma Gandhi's murder, to join them. Dixit, however, refused. Witness, therefore, claims to have had previous information of Mahatma Gandhiji's murder, but he was not examined by the Kapur Commission investigating into the matter, though (he says) he sent an affidavit to the Commission. It is obvious that Mr. Justice Kapur declined to believe Dixit's absurd story and thought it unnecessary to examine him personally.

Commission: But when anybody roars, usually in Bombay, a crowd collects
Shri Dixit: The roaring was just for me, just for my hearing, not for others. Then, My Lord, when he gave this assurance, I stopped weeping, and I was again very happy and I again started dancing out of joy, because he gave me this assurance. Then I was very angry and he was smiling at the...
Commission: Very angry? For what?
Shri Dixit: Yes, Sir, because this was the last meeting, I was angry with my fate. But he was smiling. Then again, in the end, in a loud voice, Netaji told me, 'Do your duty. Don't care for anyone else in this world. I am there. I am alive', and he gave me the order also, pointing out to those girls, 'Go and do your duty there. This is the country's cause.'
Commission: What sort of duty would it be with the girls there?
Shri Dixit: Having to unearth the secrets of the foreign countries by having contacts with them.

7.37 The third and last meeting with Bose took place at Mainpuri in February or March 1969. On the occasion Bose was in the Rani Sahiba's garden and Dixit went to see him there. Bose was alone and was wearing a lungi round his nether limbs, while the upper part of his body was bare. He was, however, wearing, what the witness called 'precious shoes', precious because 'they were very beautiful to look at.' Bose wanted to have a bath at the tube well and Dixit asked his servant to work the tube well motor. Dixit said that he was quite sure that he recognised the person whom he had met in Bombay and whom he had met earlier in Kanpur. Bose stayed in Mainpuri for 5 days, conversing with the witness every day, also he drank the milk of a black cow arranged by Dixit. Said Dixit:

"I thought for Netaji, I must make special arrangements for his food. He said: 'I do not take food or fruit.' Then I said: 'Would you like cow's milk?' He said: 'Yes, that is the correct thing.' So I arranged for this black cow. It used to roam about in the garden, eating the grass the whole day and it used to give the best milk."

7.38 Finally, the witness claimed to have received messages from Bose and the latest message he received was on Christmas day in 1970. Bose on that occasion told him that he would keep a strict watch over the proceedings of the present Commission.

7.39 No comment on this palpably false and fantastic story is called for. That Dixit, an obscure lawyer of Mainpuri, should have been singled out by Bose for clandestine meetings and intimate conversation could only have been imagined by a diseased mind or a person so utterly lost to all regard for truth that he could on oath, tell blatant and transparent lies.

7.40 It will be seen from these narratives that there is no dearth of stories invented to prove that Bose is still alive. Knowing Bose's character, his temperament, his antecedents and the part he played both before and after his departure from India in January 1941, it is impossible to believe that he could have conducted himself in the manner described in the above stories. There was no need for Bose to masquerade himself as a sadhu or a Swami and while revealing his identity to persons whom he had known slightly only he need not have asked them to keep the matter secret. He is alleged to have appeared with his face completely uncovered in public places such as the funeral of Pandit Nehru, as a member of the Mongolian delegation to China and so being recognised by the persons who knew him well. Yet, at the same time, we are asked to believe that Bose was taking every precaution to conceal his identity so much so that he made gestures of silence to those whom he met, and asked them not to reveal his identity. The meetings were, in all cases, accidental and quite unanticipated. But they never had any purpose or any meaning. Most of the persons who claimed to have met him were not his intimate associates or political workers personally known to him. Some of them had never met him in person and their knowledge of his facial features was gained from old photographs. Others were certainly not on such intimate terms with him that he should have singled them out for a private indeed, a conspiratorial discussion. The complete collection of these stories reads like Arabian Nights Entertainments or exploits in a strange wonderland in which nothing seems real or rational. In the same category falls the story related by Gora Chand Sanyal (Witness No. 6) who says that he was in charge of the prisoners of war camp in Singapore in August or September, 1945. Sanyal's story is not a direct story, for it is merely an account he heard from someone else. It is interesting because it is indicative of the manner in which witness in the course of this inquiry have tried to strain human credibility in their endeavour to add importance to themselves. He says that among the prisoners in Singapore was Kazu Hiko in the Jurang Road camp, who acted as Bose's driver. Sanyal said:

"One day when I was working in the camp, detailing the Japanese drivers for driving convoys, clearing debris and different other works, this Kazu Hiko came to me and told me a very interesting story about Netaji's mysterious departure from Singapore. To be very frank, as I love Netaji, as I adore Netaji and as I worship Netaji I was very inquisitive to learn the story from him. He told me that along with the Japanese General and these two swords he drove Netaji along Bukidimah Road down to the submarine base and Netaji told this driver to wait there for half an hour and if they did not return by that time the driver should take the car back to the camp...They did not return and afterwards I told the driver to drive my car and as a matter of fact I appointed him as my own driver. So long as I stayed in the camp this Kazu Hiko was driving my car, and one day he handed over the two swords to me when he came to know that I came from Calcutta, the place of Netaji."

One of the two swords is said to be the one which Bose wore with his military uniform. The manner in which the swords were brought back to India was also unusual. According to Sanyal these swords were kept concealed in a rubber plantation in Singapore. Then, when he was returning to India he brought them in his hold-all. He says that, one evening, he happened to meet the late Air Marshal Subrato Mukherjee and asked him to take him to India. The Air Marshal was going to India in his plane and gave a seat to Sanyal.

Sanyal brought those swords to India, handed them over to his mother where they remained unknown for several years. The witness disclosed the possession of the swords only in 1969 when he spoke of the matter to Moni Chakraborty, a reporter of the newspaper, Jugantar. The story was then published in Jugantar of 3-4- 1969 (Exhibit No. W-8/E). The entire story narrated by Sanyal constitutes hearsay evidence for he is merely stating what he heard from Kazu Hiko. The identity of the swords has not been established by independent evidence, and the long period of complete silence on the part of the witness is a factor which induces disbelief of the witness's testimony. I find it difficult to believe that the Air Marshal would, disregard military rules and carry a passenger in his special plane when there was no urgency about Sanyal's return to India, and there was no other reason for departing from the norms of conduct.

7.41 The last piece of evidence in this category to which a reference must be made is the story told by Usman Patel of a fake crash at Taipei to cover Bose's escape. He says that he was one of the 30 in the battalion which constituted Bose's bodyguard. He remained Bose's bodyguard till the 18th August, 1945. His story is as follows:

"On the 18th of August, I accompanied Netaji at 8 or 8.30 A.M. We reached Saigon at about 10.30 A.M. We stayed there for an hour and a half. There the aircraft was refuelled. We left Saigon at 11.30 A.M. We reached Taipei at about 12.30 or 12.45...There were in all four persons in the aircraft, including the pilot of the plane as the fourth man. Netaji, Col. Habibur Rahman and myself were the three persons and the pilot the fourth one........
Q: How big was the aircraft? Was it a big one or a small one in which you went to Taipei from Singapore?
A: It was neither a small aircraft nor a big aircraft. It was enough to accommodate 8 or 10 passengers. When We landed at Taipei, Mr. Rash Behari Bose's wife and her two sons and Japanese officers Nikame and Somane were present. These people were all in the rest house and they came to welcome Netaji. A little later, Mrs. Rash Behari Bose asked the Japanese sepoys to give both of us, Col. Habibur Rahman and myself food. So, Col. Habibur Rahman and I went to the mess. The food was ready, and I had taken only 2 or 3 morsels, when a Japanese came and said that I was wanted by Netaji. I left my food and ran to Netaji. Netaji asked me to set fire to the aircraft. I picked up two two-gallon tins of petrol. I entered the aircraft. The pilot was sitting in his seat. I sprinkled petrol on all the seats and other places. After sprinkling petrol, I came near the door of the aircraft, and with a lighted match, set fire to the aircraft. I was, at that time, standing inside the aircraft near the door. I jumped out and at once the pilot took off the plane. The plane would have gone up about 50 feet. The pilot took aircraft up to 50 or 60 feet. Then he crashed it to the ground. He himself parachuted out. The pilot landed on the ground first and he ran to where Netaji was...I went to Netaji. Netaji sang a song. Rash Behari Bose's wife and her two sons and Japanese Captains Nikame and Somane and Japanese Sepoys, all sang the song. Col. Habibur Rahman ran to the plane to take out his box. He took out the-box and in doing so, he sustained several burn injuries. He suffered injuries in his hand and on his face. He also sustained a cut on his big toe...Netaji took off his military clothes and put on Japanese clothes...Netaji asked me to stand near a pillar on one side. The Japanese soldier tied my hands to the pillar of the rest-house. After this, the Japanese tied a bandage over my eyes. Then Netaji said, see Patel, time is bad. Enemy is on all the four sides. It is difficult for me to save myself and I (Patel) should go back to India. After this all of them went away. I do not know where they went away because I could not see as my eyes were bandaged. Some time later, the Japanese soldiers untied me from the pillar. I saw Col. Habibur Rahman was lying down. Except one or two soldiers there was no one at all. Habibur Rahman was taken to the hospital. I got an empty-shell and put Netaji's clothes in this and buried it in a trench which was there. I covered it with earth and levelled it."

When questioned if he had related the story to anyone, he said:

"I did not relate the story of the burning of the aircraft, its crash and the disappearance of Netaji either to Mahatma Gandhi or to Mr. Nehru because India was not at that time free. I did not relate the story to anyone till I appeared before the Shah Nawaz Khan Committee. When the Shah Nawaz Khan Committee was still in India and before it left for Japan, I went and related the whole story to Mr. Nehru. I related the story also to Shah Nawaz Khan. Shah Nawaz Khan did not permit me to appear before the Committee to give evidence. I did not approach any newspaper reporter at that time nor did I tell anyone my story."

The witness claimed that he knew Mr. Nehru well and Mr. Nehru had conferred favours on him.