Bhagwanji
Encyclopedia
Bhagwanji, also known as Gumnami Baba, was a mysterious Indian monk who in 1985 lived at Ram Bhawan in Faizabad
, near Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh
. Till date, his real identity and activities remain obscure. A great number of people maintain that he was the Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, living incognito. People who support such a stand challenge the death of Subhas Chandra Bose in a plane crash in 1945. It is said that Bhagwanji had an uncanny resemblance to Netaji Bose. Some people believe that Bhagwanji died on 16 September 1985, while some dispute this.
There had been at least four known occasions when Bhagwanji reportedly claimed he was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose himself. Handwriting analysis expert and former Additional Director of the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, Dr B. Lal deposed before the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry
that probed into the disappearance of Netaji, that the handwritings of Bhagwanji and Bose did match. However, the commission did not accept the claim that Bhagwanji was Bose, for want of any clinching evidence. At the same time, the commission also rejected the official view of the Indian government that Bose died in 1945. In light of the commission's rulings, the obscurity left behind by Bhagwanji makes enough reason for a debate even today.
Faizabad
City of Faizabad , previous capital of Awadh, is the headquarters of Faizabad District and a municipal board in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, situated on the banks of river Ghaghra . Faizabad has a twin city of Ayodhya, which is considered to be the birthplace of Rama...
, near Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. Till date, his real identity and activities remain obscure. A great number of people maintain that he was the Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, living incognito. People who support such a stand challenge the death of Subhas Chandra Bose in a plane crash in 1945. It is said that Bhagwanji had an uncanny resemblance to Netaji Bose. Some people believe that Bhagwanji died on 16 September 1985, while some dispute this.
There had been at least four known occasions when Bhagwanji reportedly claimed he was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose himself. Handwriting analysis expert and former Additional Director of the National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, Dr B. Lal deposed before the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry
Mukherjee Commission
The Mukherjee Commission refers to the one-man board of Mr. Justice Manoj Mukherjee , a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India which was instituted in 1999 to enquire into the controversy surrounding the reported death of Subhas Chandra Bose in 1945....
that probed into the disappearance of Netaji, that the handwritings of Bhagwanji and Bose did match. However, the commission did not accept the claim that Bhagwanji was Bose, for want of any clinching evidence. At the same time, the commission also rejected the official view of the Indian government that Bose died in 1945. In light of the commission's rulings, the obscurity left behind by Bhagwanji makes enough reason for a debate even today.
Justice Mukherjee's revelation
Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee, who probed into the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, stated in his report that the sanyasi of Faizabad (Bhagwanji) was not Bose as there was no clinching evidence to prove it. However, he inadvertently stated in a documentary shoot that he believed Bhagwanji was none other than Bose. This revelation supports the view that Bose had not died in the plane crash in 1945, and was in fact in India after that.See also
- Subhas Chandra Bose
- Death of Subhas Chandra Bose
- Mission NetajiMission NetajiMission Netaji is a Delhi based Indian non-profit trust, conducting research on Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Mission Netaji mainly looks into the circumstances of disappearance of Netaji. Mission Netaji runs the websites www.missionnetaji.org and www.subhaschandrabose.org...
- Anuj DharAnuj DharAnuj Dhar is an Indian author and journalist. He is the founder trustee of the Delhi based national non-profit trust Mission Netaji which conducts research on the Indian freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.-Career:...