Netaji lived on till 1985?

In a claim that could give a new dimension to the ongoing mystery over the death of Subhash Chandra Bose, a veteran freedom fighter and member of his Azad Hind Fauj said on Tuesday that Netaji had died on September 16, 1985 in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad district.

Talking to reporters in Jaunpur, Ayodhya Prasad Gupta said Netaji's last rites were performed at the Guptar Ghat on the banks of river Saryu in the presence of merely five people and a samadhi has also been set up at the spot.

Gupta said Netaji had stayed for more than seven years in Basti, over two years in Ayodhya and three years in the Civil Lines area of Faizabad.

Various belongings of Netaji had been handed over to the Justice Mukherji Commission set up to probe the controversy surrounding Bose's death, Gupta said, claiming that the panel, in its report, had stated that these things were genuine.

Asked why Netaji remained in hiding even after Independence, Gupta said according to an understanding with the British at the time of Independence, the government had to hand him over and the tenure of this understanding had been till 2002.

Gupta said he has also written a book on Netaji with rare pictures of him including one showing him attending the cremation of Jawaharlal Nehru.