“There are a lot of theories flying about and I believe in none” said Chandra Kumar Bose at a recent press meet in Kolkata.

Chandra Kumar Bose is the grand nephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and grandson of Sarat Chandra Bose, elder brother of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Other family members who spoke on Netaji's disappearance were Prof. Chitra Ghosh (niece), Jayanti Rakshit (grandniece) and Abhijit Ray (grandnephew).

While they lauded the Government of India’s decision on January 23, 2016 to declassify all files pertaining to Netaji, raising hopes all around about the unravelling of the mystery, they pointed out that not much has been unearthed since that decision was taken, and a beginning was made more than 18 months back.

According to Abhijit Ray, though Subhas Chandra Bose played a significant role in driving away the British from India, his contribution is fading away from public memory and it is necessary to correct that.

Some of the other demands put forth by the family members included declassification of all files – including the IB files – on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose; appointing a high-powered Special Investigation Team (SIT) to scrutinise all documents released, and prepare a report to be placed in both Houses of Parliament; arrange for this SIT’s visits to Russia, the UK, Germany, France, Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Myanmar to examine all relevant files and documents pertaining to Netaji, and submit a report to the Government of India; and accept the findings of the Justice Mukherjee Commission’s report, or state reasons for its rejection.

The Open Platform for Netaji, of which Chandra Kumar Bose is the convener and  Abhijit Ray, the co-convener, also organised a rally on August 18 in Kolkata, from Netaji's statue on Red Road to Netaji Bhavan to mark 72nd anniversary of the disappearance (August 18, 1945) of Netaji and to create greater public awareness about the need to take effective measures by the Government of India to unravel the mystery surrounding Netaji.

People from Odisha and Uttar Pradesh also participated in the rally apart from the people of Kolkata.

(Reporting by Shilpa Salwan)