New translation reveals Mukherjee Commission ignored Renkoji temple's nod for DNA test of ashes, says Netaji kin

Madhuri Bose, the grand-daughter of Netaji’s brother Sarat Bose, said they had commissioned a fresh translation after they found inconsistencies in the Mukherjee Commission report and found several paragraphs in the letter written in Japanese missing from it Kolkata: A new translation of a letter in Japanese written by the chief priest of Tokyo’s Renkoji temple, keeper of an urn containing ashes and bone fragments believed to be those of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, to the Indian government in 2005 revealed that permission was given for DNA test to the Justice MK Mukherjee Commission. Madhuri Bose, the legendary freedom fighter’s grand-niece — the grand-daughter of his brother Sarat Bose, told PTI, “We recently commissioned the fresh translation after we found inconsistencies in the Mukherjee Commission report and found several paragraphs in the letter written in Japanese missing from the official English version in the Justice Mukherjee Inquiry Report.” The new translation by a Japanese language expert revealed that Nichiko Mochizuki, the chief priest of the Renkoji Temple — a 427-year-old Buddhist temple, had written “I agreed to offer my cooperation for the testing. The portion of the chief priest’s letter, which was omitted from the official translation, also said that after the Japanese lost the war, conditions under US-UK occupation were severe, yet the temple authorities undertook the then dangerous task of preserving Netaji’s ashes as sought by an Indian delegation, which included “Col Raman, Mr Iyer and Mrs Sahay”, and by the Japanese foreign minister. However, Madhuri Bose said no response has yet been received by the family for “a DNA test and final closure” to the mystery of Netaji’s disappearance and the ashes.