#THREAD

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗷𝗶’𝘀 𝗪𝗮𝗿 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 ?

We all know that thousands of Indians at home and abroad gave away precious gold & money to help in Netaji Subash Chandra Bose’s war for Independence. But what happened to all that War Treasure ?

Read on.. (1/20)

Protected by the Official Secrets Act, there lies the secret “Netaji Files” containing hundreds of yellowing documents about the mystery of Netaji’s death and the war treasure (comprising of cash, gold & jewellery) ~ one of the earliest scandals of India !!

(2/20)

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗡𝗔 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲

The story of all this treasure began on January 29, 1945, when Indian residents of Rangoon, the capital of Japaneseoccupied-Burma, held a grand weeklong ceremony to celebrate Netaji’s 48th birthday..

(3/20)

Netaji relied on the sheer dint of his personality, emotive speeches and unswerving commitment to Indian independence to ask the community for funds. It’s said that housewives would come up and strip their arms and necks of gold to serve the cause of freedom !

(4/20)

Netaji had raised the largest war chest by any Indian leader in the 20th century. But by 1945, this was to no avail as the Japanese army and the INA crumpled in the face of a resurgent Allied thrust into Burma.

(5/20)

On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allied Powers. The 40,000-strong INA also surrendered to the Allied forces in Burma, their officers marched off to the Red Fort to face trial for treason.

A terrible fate awaited for Netaji and others who had escaped.

(6/20)

Netaji had been marked for assassination by Winston Churchill in 1941 and in 1945, had told his aides he would be "lined up against a brick wall and shot" if captured.

But Netaji planned his escape to Soviet Union (USSR) - the the fateful yet mysterious voyage !

(7/20)

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲

The plane carrying Netaji was reported to have crashed and he was reported dead.

Thereafter, two containers came to represent two of modern India's biggest political mysteries:
the fate of Netaji &
whereabouts of the treasure !

(8/20)

Where was the rest of Netaji's war chest?
It beggared belief that over 63.5 kg of treasure could‘ve turned into a 11 kg lump of charred jewellery !!

(9/20)

Exact numbers were hard to come by in the melee of defeat. The INA and the Japanese destroyed documents to prevent them falling into Allied hands, further confusing the picture.

Inquiry commissions relied on eyewitness accounts to build a picture of the INA treasure.

(10/20)

The warnings from Tokyo

On December 4, 1947, Sir Benegal Rama Rau, the first head of the Indian liaison mission in Tokyo, made a startling allegation against Murti !

The ambassador's letter was prompted by complaints from local Indians..

(11/20)

In one of his final communications to New Delhi on June 22, 1951, Chettur offered to probe the disappearance of the "Netaji collections".

The first comprehensive warning of foul play in the INA treasure followed just months later !

(12/20)

It was a two-page secret note authored by R.D.Sathe on November 1, 1951. "INA Treasures and their handling by Messrs Iyer & Ramamurthi" summed up the story :

(13/20)

This note was signed by Jawaharlal Nehru on November 5, 1951. "PM has seen this note. This may be placed on the relevant file," then foreign secretary Subimal Dutt signed off on it.

(14/20)

Nehru's thoughts that year were clearly about the first Indian General Election that began in October that year.

The Congress was set to sweep the elections, as there was no charismatic opposition leader !

The fate of Subhas Chandra Bose was still unclear.

(15/20)

It now turns out that Chettur's suspicions were correct. Ayer was on a covert mission for the government. In 1952, Prime Minister Nehru quoted from Ayer's report in Parliament affirming that Netaji had indeed died in an air crash in Taipei.

(16/20)

More warnings but no action:

PM Nehru was in the loop on most INA matters and was quick to intervene in other cases where former INA men sought to cash in on their wartime fortune !

In fact, he got them arrested & seized the money with them !!

(17/20)

That the revelations within the 'INA Treasure' file is a ticking time bomb has been known to the govt.

That part of the INA treasure had been secretly transferred to Delhi in a secret operation was revealed only in the 1970s !

(18/20)

Multiple whistleblowers have been ignored and government after government have been hiding the secrete files & now after the current government promising about disclosing the mystery ended with Modiji declaring Netaji had died in plane crash, it remains a mystery !

(19/20)

The question remains as it has for over half a century - why aren’t the governments telling the truth !

The Nation needs to know the truth of its undeclared first PM - the true leader - & the loads of treasure that vanished with him !!

(Source : Internet/Google)

(20/20)