6. Evidence of Certain Witnesses (...cont'd)

6.20 The most convincing refutation of Malhotra's contention is, however, furnished by the evidence of Shri Dutt Majumdar (Witness No. 174). Shri Dutt Majumdar was engaged by the Shaulmari Ashram as Legal Adviser, and he had occasion to see the Swami several times. He came in contact with the Ashram first in August 1961, when he visited it to observe its cultural activity. Later, he was asked to conduct a number of cases in which Swami was involved. Some cases had been brought by him against Uttam Chand Malhotra. Hira Lai Dixit and others for making a false allegation about the Swami's true identity. There was also a warrant of arrest against the Swami himself. When questioned about the appearance of the Swami and his resemblance to Bose, Shri Dutt Majumdar was quite categorical. He said: "For the first time I had the privilege to see the Founder of the Shaulmari Ashram in the second week of February 1962. On that occasion I was asked by the Sadhu to stay on for another three days. I was very inconveniently placed this time. For these three days after having seen him I came back to Calcutta and issued a statement, a categorical statement to the press. I had stated among other things that he was not Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. This was my conclusion after having seen the Swamiji." The witness went on to give his reasons and said: "I have seen him sometimes doing gardening work, sometimes he invited me with the gardening implements and telling me to do this or that; at very close quarters, he was taking his bath in the coldest winter, about five or six times a day or even at the dead of the night. He was a very tall man about 6-1/2'in height. I am told that Shri Subhas Chandra Bose, as we all know him, was only about 5 ft and 9 inches in height. I do not know whether by exercises one can increase his height. Shri Bose did not have that height. The Sadhu was generally dark and black complexioned. He was far sturdier than Netaji with a much blacker complexioned look. Subhas Chandra Bose had tapering fingers. As I noticed the Sadhu, he had rough and ready fingers which resembled like a Brahmin cook's." The intonation and dialect of the Swami when he spoke were unlike Bose's manner of speaking. The Swami spoke the dialect of the Mymensing District, whereas Bose was brought up in Cuttack."

6.21 Shri Dutt Majumdar was questioned about Uttam Chand Malhotra's visit to him and to the Ashram. He said: "Netaji had his hospitality in Kabul, and I had his hospitality in Delhi and I found that like the Brijbasis of yore who would not believe that Krishna had left Vrindavan, my very dear and esteemed friend suffers from that kind of psychosis." The witness added: "Yes, it had come to my notice that Shri Uttam Chand Malhotraji had seen Babaji of Shaulmari Ashram, and immediately after his having seen Babaji, it was reported in the press, that Uttam Chand Malhotraji had addressed a meeting at Calcutta and proclaimed there that 'now that I have seen him, I have seen that he is not Netaji, he is a great Mahatma...But why afterwards he changed, it is more than I can tell.'

6.22 Shri Dutt Majumdar was questioned about the Shaulmari Ashram at great length and he repeatedly stated that the Sadhu was most definitely not Netaji. The Sadhu differed from him in several respects, his facial features, his complexion, his height, the degree of his baldness and his speech and intonation. There is no reason why Shri Dutt Majumdar's statement on this point should not be believed.

6.26 This is, in broad outline, the story of his enquiry and conclusions. Sinha went to Taipei in 1964 more than 19 years after Bose's plane is said to have crashed there. He had no first hand knowledge of the accident. He cannot be regarded an expert whose opinion would be admissible in evidence under the provisions of Sec. 45 of the Indian Evidence Act. I, however, propose to discuss Sinha's testimony because of the importance attached to his writings, and the emotions he aroused when he testified at the Calcutta Session.

6.28 First as to his purpose in going to Taipei. The story he stated before Commission was that he went to Taipei with the set and specific purpose of finding evidence to refute the crash story, which he had always doubted. So, he asked Messers Blandfords of London, his publishers, to buy him a ticket for Taipei. The ticket covered the journey London-Hongkong-Taipei-Calcutta. In the Netaji Mystery a wholly different story was given by him. There he had said: "For me it is a chance-luck that has landed me at this Formosa Island. My foreign publishers had sent me an air ticket for the Tokyo Olympics, which reached me in Calcutta after a month the games were over. However, I have availed myself of the opportunity to get acquainted with some of the regions of the Far East we know so little about...At Hongkong I had an option to fly directly to Tokyo or via Formosa. A friendly C.A.T. airline man lured me to a Formosa bound Mandarin jet and got set for my following the trails of Netaji."

6.29 Therefore, the story as given by the witness in the book he published in 1966 was that it was mere chance that took him to Formosa. He had intended to go and see the Olympic Games at Tokyo, and indeed it was only at Hongkong that he was suddenly persuaded to visit Formosa. In any case, the air ticket reached him a month after the Games were over. Yet, he gave no explanation of why he left Calcutta at all, nor did he say that the ticket was from London to Hongkong. If the ticket reached him in Calcutta, the starting point could not have been London. I wrote to Messers Blandford and asked them to inform me if they had purchased a ticket for Dr. Sinha in 1964 or at any other time. They stated in reply that they had never purchased any ticket for Dr. Sinha. This reply of Messers Blandford gives the lie direct to Sinha's statement, made on oath before me.

6.30 A third purpose of Satyanarayan. Sinha going to Taipei is furnished by a report and a photograph in the newspaper China Post dated November 27, 1964, which Mr. Sinha himself produced. According to this paper, Mr. Sinha was a member of the Indian Delegation to the Tenth Conference of the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League, held at Taipei. The photograph shows Sinha shaking hands with Defence Minister, Gen. Chang Ching Ko. It seems that this was the real purpose of Sinha's visit to Taipei. When the matter was put to him in the course of his examination before the Commission, he denied that he was a member of the delegation, but admitted that the photograph which he produced was, indeed, his. If this version is accepted then the other two stories given by Sinha in the Netaji Mystery and in his deposition before the Commission are seen to be wholly false, and Sinha could not have gone to Taipei to make any investigation into the truth of the crash story at Taipei.

6.31 The contradiction between the story as stated in 1966 and stated four years later before the Commission is so fundamental that the two statements are wholly inconsistent. If the earlier statement is correct, Sinha cannot be believed when he says that he went to Taipei specifically to find out the truth about the story of the crash.

6.32 Again before the Commission, the witness stated that at Taipei hundreds and thousands of air-crashes had taken place on and before August 18, 1945 and that the story of the lone aircrash in which Bose died was contradicted by what he heard at Taipei in 1964. In his book, Netaji Mystery, however, he had stated, "there are no reports of any other air mishaps at Taipei except that one on October 23, 1944, in which Subhas Babu definitely did not perish. According to Formosa reports, there was no aircrash on 18th August, 1945." Again in Chapter 2 of the book he gives an account of his interrogation of Mr. Chuang. Mr. Chuang said: "This is the location of the only aircrash that has taken place in the history of Taipei."

"When was it?"
"On October 23, 1944 at 1400 hours, Tokyo time."
“Did the Japanese news agency reports not put it as on August 18, 1945?"
"It is not correct. There has not been any crash at Taipei besides the one I am telling you about."

The two statements are so completely contradictory as to be wholly inconsistent.

6.33 In his evidence, Sinha stated that he was provided with a small aircraft in which he made no less than 150 sorties over and around the airport and took dozens of photographs from the plane. In the book, Netaji Mystery, there is no mention of his having been provided with a plane. The photographs which he took and produced before me appear to have been taken from different elevated recognisable places on the ground or tall buildings. For instance, the photographs of the airfield were obviously taken from the hillock on which the Grand Hotel now stands, and the photograph of the town in which a plane is seen to be flying was obviously taken from the roof of one of the high buildings in the town. According to Netaji Mystery, Sinha did not know anyone in Taipei when he arrived there, but the Formosan Government was friendly, and two persons, Mr. Chuang and Mr. Tao, became his close associates in the enquiry which he had undertaken. It does not, however, appear that Chuang was able to provide a plane for the exclusive use of Satyanarayan Sinha.

6.34 Then, again, when we come to the question of witnesses interviewed and documents examined, there is complete contradiction between the evidence given before the Commission and the account narrated in the book, Netaji Mystery. On page 4 of the book, he says that the pilot of the plane which carried him from Hongkong to Taipei told him that there were thousands of tons of Japanese papers safely deposited in a far away cave. The pilot had access to them, and so, Sinha would be able to see them. The pilot introduced Sinha to Gen. Chiang Kai Sheik "and an informal meeting with him opened all the gates to the Japanese secret preserved on the island including their intelligence reports. I could observe, study, examine and take photographs of whatever I thought could have been of any value to my work." The narrative in the book makes it quite clear that Sinha did examine those papers and intelligence reports. According to his evidence before the Commission, however, the only investigation he carried out was flying the aeroplane to examine the site and to calculate the distances and time which must have been covered by Bose's plane if the crash story were true. From this material, he conclusively came to the conclusion that the story was false, and he, therefore, did not deem it necessary to examine any witnesses or to look into any documents. He did not even bother to enquire if the hospital had any records of Bose having been taken there and treated. Indeed, at one stage, he said that there were no documents available at all, and he did not meet any of the military hospital staff. When pressed to say whether he asked his friend Peter Tsiand to make available the hospital records, he made the astonishing reply: "No, I never talked about hospitals. As an air man, I talked about the crash and concentrated all my investigations on crash alone." As an instance of his sidetracking the issue and making wholly irrelevant statements, the following extract from his statement may be quoted:

"I calculated the speed of the sally bomber and compared it with the statements of the witnesses there. The distance between Singapore and Bangkok is exactly 897 miles and it took 5 hours according to the witnesses there. In the same way, I calculated the flying hours between Tourane and Taihoku. But the speed was accelerated. This was all to check up the statement of Habibur Rahman as to whether he was flying in the plane of Netaji or not. I checked up the flying speed, the latitude and at what time it will reach. Actually, I repeated the performance also on my return back on one of the planes. I did not touch Tourane. But I touched the nearby point and then I came to Saigon just to see the flying conditions of that time. I had to get the whole picture of it at that time. This was not enough at all, no proof of my conviction. There are other proofs also which I came to know on that particular day as to which were the Japanese bases in Formosa, what route they had to take, what plane they had to take and where they were scheduled to take and all that and also where was the suicide squadron based. There was another Admiral who was going to commit suicide even after the Emperor's orders. We had to see at what time did he take off and all that. So, we have to see the whole war picture. Seeing all these things, we have to pinpoint the war record, not from hour to hour but from minute to minute. That is how I calculated the speed of the plane as it is said in the book, how it flew from Tourane, when they had removed 10 anti-aircraft guns, how much load would be less and by how much speed will be accelerated. So, it is a matter of clear calculation."

When pressed to give result of his calculation a little more specifically, the witness delivered himself of a long diatribe which had nothing whatever to do with the subject matter of the inquiry, but which must be quoted in full to convey the true impression of the manner in which the witness gave his evidence and also the entirely spurious nature of his story.

"Will your lordship permit me to come to that map again? These Japanese fighting forces were a peculiar type of fighting forces in the annals of history. They are a very proud people. Until the end of July, 1945, they had no idea to surrender. Their military disposition was that. Here is Dairen. It is written as S. S. A. Ketai. That means it is Chinese-Russian. It came in dual control of both of them from that date, 22nd August. On that date, as to what was happening in this theatre of war, one has to take a rough idea. After the Japanese surrendered, all of a sudden, what happened in this theatre of war, in this sector which is the Manchurian sector, was that the army of Japan was based there. That is three-fourth of a million, 750,000 people. Here from the Russian side there were also arrayed the Far Eastern Red Army. Many of the Generals who outshone there were my colleagues, and if I had stayed in the Russian Army I could have certainly become one of the best strategists of the UCO or Blusher. There was a technique of warfare. Here the peculiar technique is: take the place in Manchuria. All of a sudden what happens is that on the 8th August, 1945, Russia declares war on Japan. Japan has made a mistake meanwhile. The mistake is that in order to defend not Burma and other places, but Okinawa, Rikyu islands or Philippines, they have shifted from here to there, certain units of their Kwantung army already, and this army which was left in charge of other Generals, they were not to the tune of the fighting etc. When Japan surrendered on the 14th of August, that is what the Japanese Cabinet have decided that they need desperately, very very desperately because one week ago they were saying: "Don't compare us to the Germans. The allies have captured their homeland. Our homeland, the Allies will never capture so long as we live." They were saying this. When as soon as those forces come here, heaviest fighting is going on. Japan concentrated every effort to fight here from 9th onwards in this sector and in this sector there is a key man of these Kwantung Army and the key man was Gen. Shidei who spoke perfect Russian. He knew this warfare and all those things - a very famous man. He was immediately asked to proceed from this high command where he held the post of Army Chief of Staff, "You go and immediately proceed there at the earliest possible and take command of this Kwantung Army as Chief of Army Staff." As soon as he was given this command, it was just a chance meeting that Netaji met Gen. Shidei at Saigon. Now from there both of them are flying to Dairen, because if you find, Your Lordship, here in Okinawa and Rikyu are based American troops. In Philippines there is MacArthur and also in Rikyu islands. There is one MacArthur's command on that day. This is dated 15th that a Japanese surrender team should start in Japanese planes from Kyushu that is here. They should fly in Japanese planes only up to Rikyu, and from Rikyu, they should go in American planes to Manila the same day. Now MacArthur is expecting on the 16th evening here this way. All these places are very well guarded. In Swato which is here, there is one British and Chinese army working with them. Now, for Gen. Shidei, when he is there in this place, he has to shake off all burden, and in speed, every minute counts and had reached there hearing the broadcast of this Russian advance. Port Arthur which is here which was just to fall but had not fallen on that day. When they received this message here, then Shidei, at once, leaves for Dairen. Other Generals are committing suicide, Harakiri, at a very large scale because a Japanese officer's life is not worth living, once they have lost the war. So many important figures - Tojo also tried to commit suicide and those who could prove useful to the country were devoting all their efforts not to allow the Russians to capture this Dairen. When this order was given to Gen. Shidei, he immediately starts from there and then unloads everything at Tourane. Those days when the Japanese plans are grounded, they had to find a way out. What is the word which you use - clandestinely, I mean that when you are just pressed all round by the enemy, you have to find out your schedule and everything has to be planned secretly and very successfully by manoeuvering and skillfully piloting you have to go through. Now when they reach Tourane, they leave also their ADCS and all that and if Habib-ur-Rahman was with Netaji Subhas Bose, he was dropped there because the plane cannot take so much weight and so many people and reach Dairen the same evening. Everything was dropped there and it is admitted that from Singapore to Bangkok it is 897 miles — five hours flying. They have to make at the most 5^ hrs. They cannot take more to reach Taipei that day because at 2 O'clock the team is reaching from there with the Emperor's command telling the suicide squadrons "You surrender." This is the order that some very high dignitary is approaching there at about 3 O'clock at Tankurku. They have to leave in any case before that time because MacArthur's people and his command people will be passing this way and if they see that planes are grounded why this particular plane is flying, they can attack it and they can get that down. Under these circumstances, all encircled by enemies two persons without their ADCs - a General is also about to have his ADC and Gen. Shidei is like that and he asks for no ADC. If you calculate the time, it will take 5 hours 35 minutes. From 5 O'clock if you leave here Taihoku, they reach here Taipei at 10 or 11 O'clock. Again it is in this side because the Americans who are based here will not follow the Japanese plane for a particular reason. They do not want to get involved with Russia in war because Dairen and other places - it is from Marshal Varsilovsky's record I am quoting - that they never wanted that any American plane should show up in the periphery of this area. Once there, the plane from Taihoku has taken off at 11.30 and it has reached Dairen. There is no other landing ground in between. It has to reach within 5 hours 30 minutes according to schedule. Oh the 18th, at about 6 O'clock in the evening, Gen. Shidei and Netaji both reached Dairen there. When these Americans after 3 or 4 hours landed there, they asked the airport: Oh, well, we have heard from intelligence report from Swato or from here, British intelligence, that Subhas Chandra Bose has flown. They said: What are you talking about? We have never heard this name in life. And so, in a hurry/by the next plane, that means after 2 or 3 days, Habib-ur Rahman comes there and there he is tutored by Japanese intelligence on that particular date. What has happened in the meanwhile to these people? Here the 4 Generals have surrendered to the Russians. And, on the 22nd of August, the Russians captured Dairen. Till they captured Dairen, Japanese are not supposed to disclose anything. They disclosed on 23rd. This is Domei Agency. They said: What are you talking about? Subhas Chandra Bose had died. There is no point in following him at all. That is just to save him. And this is the truth, Sir, up to that extent, which can be verified from the nationalist Chinese agents whom I interrogated there. And after this I located from the books on what minute and which plane followed at Taipeh."