Gumnami Baba was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose: Justice Sahai commission

The Sahai Commission looked into the belonging of Gumnami Baba that had been found after his demise.

A majority of the witnesses who deposed before the Justice Vishnu Sahai Commission believed that Gumnami Baba was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. The commission was set up in June last year to probe the identity of Gumnami Baba who was widely believed to be Bose.

Justice Sahai has submitted his report to Governor Ram Naik. He said that "the primary sources of evidence for the commission were the witnesses who either appeared before me in person or whose affidavits were treated by me as statements. A majority of the witnesses said Gumnami Baba was Netaji or may have been Netaji. Some witnesses also said he was not Netaji".

In the 347 page report, he said that the biggest challenge was the passage of time between Gumnami Baba's death and the hearing of the commission.

"Gumnami Baba died in 1985 and witnesses gave their statements in 2016 and 2017, a time gap of almost three decades. It is natural that with passage of time, their memory dimmed and, at times, they were prone to imagine facts and events, about which they deposed", he said.

"The mandate of the commission was to find out the identity of Gumnami Baba. Majority of the witnesses began with the premise that Gumnami Baba was indeed Netaji. Their approach was that, in case the commission did not agree with their premise, only then should it try to find out the identity of Gumnami Baba. In other words, they put the cart before the horse", he added.

The Sahai Commission looked into the belonging of Gumnami Baba that had been found after his demise. Among the belongings were some maps belonging to the pre-Independence era and other items like pens that people insisted belonged to Bose.

OneIndia News