[Anuj Dhar]

It is great to see a general discussing an issue that most wont like to out of prejudice or disinterst. Thanks for posting it, I was no aware of it.

I wanted to make some points.

when as believed by many Netaji took the final flight out of Saigon to Manchuria from where he is understood to have crossed over into the Soviet Union and obscurity

According to the official version given out by the Japanese and Habibur Rahman Netaji was flying to Tokyo at the time of the crash. But later on intelligence teams found out that it was a lie -- Bose was flying to Manchuria with a view to cross over to the USSR. This fact has to be borne in mind.

The Japanese later had to admit that Bose was heading to the USSR, but Rahaman did not change his view till his death in Pakistan in 1970s. His stance was attributed to an oath of secrecy that I have discussed in my book. Mukherjee Commission also confirmed that Bose was flying to the USSR. But what happned next we dont know because proper inquiries have not been made or possibly they have been made but their findings are not public. I personally think our govt knows the facts whatever they are.

What was Netaji going to do in the middle of nowhere in Taiwan, when all around him the Axis Powers were collapsing one after the other?

Well the line I take is this. There was no air crash -- it was a smokescreen to cover Bose's escape. Bose never visited Taiwan on or around 18th August 1945. He seems to separated from his fellow travellers at Tournae on the night of 17th August. The entire story of the crash and Bose's death was cooked up by the Japanese and Habib.