I saw Subhash Chandra Bose's burnt body

Ever since Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose went missing in 1945, his disappearance has been the theme of many plausible theories, but a retired Pakistan army brigadier claims he saw Netaji engulfed in flames and burnt alive, after a plane carrying them crashed over China.

The "extraordinary eyewitness account" of Brigadier Habib-ur Rehman, who also claims he was a close aide of Netaji, was written in detail by Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shaharyar Khan in his new bookCricket: A Bridge of Peace.

Khan, a former Pakistan foreign secretary and manager of the Pakistan team's tour to India in 1999, recalls Rehman's account after reading a story in a newspaper in Kolkata quoting the Subhash Chandra Bose Society, which believed Bose was alive and asked for any information about his whereabouts.

Khan claimed he met Rehman, a retired brigadier of the Pakistan Army who headed a four-member delegation that visited Chinese border town of Kashgar in Muslim-majority Sinkiang province in 1967, to establish overland trade exchange through the Karakoram highway. During the meeting, Rehman "provided the eyewitness account of Netaji's death", he added.

"Brig Habib Rehman told us that he had been a leading member of Indian National Army (INA), established by Netaji and had been court-martialled on his return to India. On serving out his sentence, he had rejoined Pakistan Army from which he had retired and was now serving as resident of northern areas.

"Brig Habib recounted that in 1945, Bose had selected him as one of his aides and he was therefore required to accompany his leader on journeys," Khan wrote.

Rehman said he had accompanied Netaji on the fateful air journey from Saigon to Tokyo in 1945.

"They had boarded the aircraft at Saigon and after a refuelling stop, the plane was flying over northern Taiwan when one of the engines began to sputter.

"The plane rapidly lost height but the pilot managed to bring it down on a clearing where it crashed into heavy undergrowth. The occupants were severely injured, some dying instantly, others escaping with injuries. Habib himself had been thrown clear as the plane plunged into a thicket because he was sitting near the tail of the aircraft," Khan wrote.

"Though bruised and groggy, Habib found he could still move and ran immediately towards the burning aircraft to see if he could rescue his leader and others who may have survived. When he reached, he saw the charred body of Bose lying beside the aircraft. Bose had seemingly died because...his suit had caught fire and burnt his body beyond recognition," Khan wrote in his book.

"Habib confirmed that he along several survivors had attempted to save their leader but his death had been due to his suit having caught fire rather than due to any injuries sustained from the impact of the crash.

Habib confirmed that he had been eyewitness to Bose's death," he said.

Khan wrote that he along with other members of the Pakistan delegation were a "privy to an extraordinary, eyewitness account of a truly historic occurrence that is still shrouded in mystery. I repeat only what I heard on that night in Kashgar".

http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=41540