So you thought the government might have snooped on Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose only because it was concerned about his political influence or because of the Indian National Army? Turns out, these were not the only things that the government was interested in. According to a DNA report, documents reveal that the government had even intercepted a letter which was thought to be about an ‘illegitimate child’ of Subhash Chandra Bose.
The letter was reportedly written by London-based A C N Nambiar to Amiya Bose, Netaji’s nephew, who lived in Kolkata. According to the DNA report, the Nehru government shared this report with Britain, after which the latter country came up with its own report, in which it was said to have noted that there was little doubt that the letter ‘is referring to the existence of an illegitimate daughter born to Subhash Chandra Bose…by the latter (Bose)’s companion and secretary Emily Schenkel.
Claims about Netaji Bose’s marriage with Emily Schenkel, too have been a subject of controversy in the past. India Today reported that in 2009, a public interest litigation was filed, saying that allegations about the marriage were being made to ‘discredit him.’
This comes even as the West Bengal government last month declassified 64 secret files relating to Bose. The files have been kept in their original form at the Kolkata Police Museum. At the time, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that the mystery surrounding his disappearance need to be put to rest.
At the time of announcing that the files would be made public, Banerjee had said that there had been a long-standing demand for the declassification of the documents and the government did not feel that ‘there is anything related to internal security in the files.’
While several documents have been made public by the West Bengal government, the report about Bose ‘illegitimate child’ was based on letters with the National Archives in India and declassified intelligence files. However, it gives an indication of the kind of information on surveillance carried out on Bose which could be brought to light.