50 new declassified files on Netaji released

The government on Tuesday released 50 more declassified files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

This was posted on web portal www.netajipapers.gov.in by Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma.

Files released on Tuesday include matters pertaining to Netaji's ashes and the probe into his disappearance following the controversial air crash of 1945 in which he is believed to have perished.

The latest release of 50 files will further meet the "continued public demand" to access these files and this will also help scholars carry out further research on Bose's role in India's freedom movement, an official source said.

The new batch of 50 files consists of 10 files from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), 10 from the home ministry and 30 files from the external affairs ministry, pertaining to the period from 1956 to 2009.

The first batch of 100 files relating to Netaji, after their preliminary conservation, treatment and digitisation, was put in the public domain by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 23 - on the occasion of the 119th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter.

In 1997, the National Archives of India had received 990 declassified files pertaining to the Indian National Army (Azad Hind Fauj) from the defence ministry, and in 2012 1,030 files/items pertaining to the Khosla Commission (271 files/items) and Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry (759 files/items) from the home ministry.