05 February 2005	Saturday	25 Zilhaj 1425

TAIPEI, Feb 4: The Taiwanes authorities have said Indian independence fighter Subhash Chandra Bose could not have died in a plane crash in the country.

Many believe the nationalist leader was killed in a plane crash in the capital, Taipei, on Aug 18, 1945.

Taiwan, according to a BBC report, has now told an Indian investigation that there were no plane crashes at Taipei between Aug 14 and Sept 20, 1945. Bose, or Netaji, fought against British colonial rule.

He believed that only an armed rebellion could oust the British from India. Bose set up the Indian National Army in exile to fight against British rule during the Second World War.

Some of his old followers in the Indian National Army insist that he died in a plane crash in Taipei on Aug 18, 1945. An aide of the leader even claimed that he survived the plane crash and found Bose dead in the wreckage.

His body was never recovered, fuelling rumour and speculation among other supporters who continue to believe that Bose survived the crash. There were rumours that Bose escaped to the Soviet Union and was then imprisoned there.

Now the Taiwanese authorities have told a long-running Indian investigation into Bose's fate that there was no such crash in Taipei in Aug 1945. "This is a shot in the arm for those who believe that Bose did not die in the crash," said Kalyan Kumar Ghosh, who has written a book on Bose's army in exile.

What happened to Bose has been always shrouded in mystery. The Japanese government says his bones are preserved at a temple in the country. A major motion picture on Bose, directed by leading Indian filmmaker Shyam Benegal, will be released this year.