New Delhi: India had agreed to share with Pakistan the funds of freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army (INA) and Indian Independence League (IIL) in 1953, according to declassified files released on Tuesday.
This was revealed in a note which was enclosed with a letter dated October 18, 1953 by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to then West Bengal Chief Minister BC Roy.
Nehru was responding to a resolution passed by West Bengal Legislature to request the central government to take steps to investigate the “funds left by Netaji and his Azad Hind government”.
The note read, “Soon after the termination of the last war in the Far East, some quantity of gold, jewellery and other valuables was seized from the officials and others connected with the INA and IIL in the south east Asian countries.”
It said these assets were “held in Singapore by the Custodian of Property” and, according to the information furnished by the Singapore government in 1950, these assets were valued at Straits dollars (the currency of settlements of Britain on the Strait of Malacca) 1,47,163.
However, it was difficult to assess the exact value of the assets due to revaluation, according to the note.
“There were protracted negotiations with Pakistan as she claimed a part of these assets. In the end, it was agreed that the assets should be divided between India and Pakistan in the ratio of 2:1,” the note read.
However, the matter related to release of funds would have had to go before the Legislative Council as the Custodian of Enemy Property had no right to hand over any amount to any person or body, it said.
Culture Ministry Secretary NK Sinha today released online the 7th batch of 25 declassified files which pertained to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) from 1951 to 2006.
The first lot of 100 files related to Netaji were put in public domain by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 23 on the occasion of the freedom fighter's 119th birth anniversary.
The second lot of 50 files was released in March and 25 files each were put in public domain in the subsequent months.
The disappearance of Netaji 70 years ago still remains a mystery with two Commissions of Inquiry concluding that he had died in a plane crash in Taipei on August 18, 1945, while a third probe panel, headed by Justice M K Mukherjee, had contested it and suggested that Bose had survived the crash.
PTI
