Bhagwanji

Bhagwanji, also known as Gumnami Baba (lit. 'Baba with no name'), was an ascetic who lived approximately the last thirty years of his life in various parts of Uttar Pradesh, India. He is best known for being the object of unfounded rumors that asserted his real identity as being Subhas Chandra Bose. These claims have repeatedly been found to be unsubstantiated by numerous investigations. Bose died in a plane crash on 18 August 1945, but legends and rumors of his purported survival have circulated ever since.
Bhagwanji died on 16 September 1985, in Ayodhya.
Several items were recovered from Bhagwanji's belongings which were sent to district treasury in 26 wooden boxes. Details of those items were reported in many news papers. Items contained huge collection of books in English, Hindi and Bengali, numerous Indian and foreign magazines and newspapers, many foreign made items, letters from some very important political and national leaders, maps, photographs of Bose's family members and some Indian National Army memorabilia.
Among people who had met Bhagwanji were some of the notable names of politics in independent India.
The life story of Bhagwanji was first published by a group of journalists; Ashok Tandon, Ram Tirth Vikal and Chandresh Kumar Srivastav, in a daily called Naye Log in Faizabad few weeks after Bhagwanji's death. Mr. Tandon went on to write a book called Gumnami Subhash in 1986. At the same time another magazine "Northern India Patrika" started publishing a series on Bhagwanji or Gumnami baba relating him with Netaji.
As there were no claimants on Gumnami baba's belongings, district administration decided to auction the items. The attempt was stopped by local people and to quote Ashok Tandon -
"After the reports emerged that the state administration is likely to auction the belongings of Gumnami Baba, Kauser Hussain of Northern India Patrika along with Vishwa Bandhav Tiwari and Mohd Haleem approached the court to stop the auctioning. The court ordered the administration to make the inventory of all the things that were found at Baba's place and submit it to the treasury. One of the letters found at Gumnami Baba's place was written by Basanti Devi, wife of Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, who considered Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as her own son."
In early 1986, Lalita Bose a niece of Subhash Chandra Bose, arrived at Faizabad and upon going through the items, came to the conclusion that those belonged to her great uncle only. She identified her mother's handwriting on a copy of the dissentient report submitted by Suresh Chandra as part of Shah Nawaz Committee, where she had addressed her brother in law as "Param kalyaneeya devar chiranjiveshu – Pranadhik sneh ashirvad".
She filed a writ petition (no. 929(M/B)) in Allahabad High Court, along with M Haleem and V Tiwari, demanding an immediate stop to auctioning the items, preparing an inventory of items and after due enquiry if it's ascertained that Gumnami baba was Netaji, hand over the items to her as she has right to inherit.
As per interim order passed by the court, an inventory was prepared of all the items recovered from Ram Bhawan. 25 wooden trunks full of clothes, literature, letters and other artefacts were recovered. The state government had filed a counter affidavit to the petition, where they did mention that all the items recovered surprisingly relate to Netaji. They also observed that on every 23 January, the birthday of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, a closed door ceremony used to take place in Bhagwanji's room where people from Calcutta used to be present.
In a note found among the articles, written in Bengali by Bhagwanji, it said
2.9.45—Japs surrendered/Annamite Govt. became 'Govt. of Vietnam' under Ho Chi Minh/Hanoi/Liu Po Cheng
Oct 1945: South China, General's Guest/Contact with Annamite Govt./One American Intelligence agent—Alfred Wagg—found out, told his Govt."
Liu Bocheng/Liu Po Cheng was a famous Chinese military general fighting for People's republic. A writer named Shiv Prasad Nag wrote a book in 1950s called Liu Po Cheng or Netaji? A copy of the book was found among Bhagwanji's belongings along with a letter from Nag. A letter from Bhagwanji to Nag was also found where he wrote few lines in Bengali;
যাকে তুমি বহুদিন আগে জেনেছিলে তাকে ভুলে যাও, সে মরে ভূত হয়ে গেছে। তাই সেই লোকটার মাপকাঠিতে এই শরীরকে বোঝার চেষ্টা করলে ভুল করবে। সেই আগের তিনি আর নেই, বাইরের থেকে এবং ভেতরে সে এক মৃত ভূত, ভাবলেশহীন, স্থবির এবং সবার ধরা ছোয়ার বাইরে. (Do forget the one, you once knew, for he has turned into a ghost. Comparing this physical being with that person will only be misleading. That man is long gone. Physically and emotionally he has turned into a dead ghost, void of emotions, unwavering in conduct and beyond everyone's reach.)'
As to Alfred Wagg, he was a wartime correspondent for Chicago Tribune, who on 29 August 1945, openly challenged Jawaharlal Nehru during a press conference, regarding why Netaji shouldn't be treated as a war criminal and also claimed that Netaji is alive and was seen four days back in Saigon.
Anuj Dhar an investigative journalist, found a match box containing 9 teeth among Bhagwanji's belongings. Assuming those belonged to Bhagwanji, he requested Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee for a DNA analysis to be conducted on the teeth.
In 2004, two separate samples were sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad and Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Kolkata along with blood samples from Netaji's relatives from paternal and maternal side.
The report from Hyderabad was inconclusive and the reason mentioned, the teeth "did not yield DNA suitable for complete analysis".
The report from CFSL Kolkata was conclusive and reported that the DNA samples of the teeth didn't match with the DNA from Netaji's family members.
Noted DNA expert Professor Gyaneshwar Chobey of Banaras Hindu University, who has studied CFSL's report, said he was disappointed to see the analysis. He said, "There are many problems with the analysis as the software used to analyse samples (bioedit) is not meant for electropherogram analysis. Only four of 20 markers could not be used to infer anything about parental lineage." He further observed, "Height cannot be measured by dental morphology. Moreover 40-100 mg of pulp from a tooth is practically impossible.""
While replying to an RTI filed by Sayak Sen, the CFSL director said on 4 February 2020, that Electropherogram report, related to the test is not available with CFSL, Kolkata.
After few days, they did a volte face and replied on 24 February 2020,
"In continuation of your online RTI application vide Registration No DIRFS/R/E/20/00002 dated May 1, 2020 and our earlier reply letter number CFSL(K)/19-20/20/II/RTI-55/SS/475 dated February 4, 2020, the required information is furnished below: 1. Some additional records related to the RTI application have been found which contain the Electropherogram as sought in this RTI query. This information pertains to the third party, hence it cannot be provided"."
On 22 October 2022, it was reported that the CFSL has again refused to share the Electropherogram report as requested by Sayak Sen through his RTI filed in September the same year. The CFSL cited sections 8(1)(A), (E) and 11(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005, in its defence to not disclose the report. The fact that Section 8(1) of RTI act states that disclosure of an artefact would prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security, strategic and economic interests of the State, raised more suspicion in the minds of the Netaji followers.
Anuj Dhar approached B Lal Kapoor a retired Chief Examiner of Questioned Documents, top most position held by any Indian Govt official with respect to handwriting verification, with a set of handwriting of Bhagwanji and Netaji. Once B Lal gave a positive report about matches found, he was asked to join Mukherjee Commission to do the same job. This time he went through numerous writings from Bhagwanji and Netaji both in English and Bengali and came to the conclusion that both handwritings belong to the same person.
Justice Mukherjee was obliged to seek examination from Government experts in this regard who provided negative report. Compared to B Lal's report the official report was short and not extensive. The report from Government experts mentioned finding similarities in English handwriting but not in Bengali handwriting.
The handwritings were later verified by Curt Baggett a famous expert from USA, and concluded "Based upon thorough analysis of these items and application of accepted forensic examination tools, principles and techniques, it is my professional expert opinion that the same person authored both the writing on the known (proved as letters written by Bose) and on the questioned documents (accessed from Roy and other revolutionaries by the authors)."
In a recent webcast veteran handwriting expert Ashok Kashyap also confirmed that volumes of handwriting cannot be forged so perfectly.
Netaji's family has long been distancing itself from Gumnami Baba or Bhagwanji and has abhorred the possibility of Netaji being Bhagwanji almost in all possible occasions. Sugata Bose, grand nephew of Netaji called it a "travesty of history", while another grand nephew Chandra kumar Bose observed, "it is a 'criminal offence' to term 'Gumnami Baba' as Netaji in disguise without any documentary or photographic evidence to support it"
Eminent researcher, author Dr Purabi Roy, a proponent of the theory that Netaji's final days were in fact in Russia and not Taihoku, noted that calling Gumnami Baba as Netaji in disguise is mere sensationalism. She mentioned about Vishwambhar Nath Arora, a former principal of a college in Faizabad, visiting Gumnami baba's residence post his death and discovering cartons of cigarette and bottles of Scotch Whisky. Netaji was never known to be an alcoholic in his life.
V N Arora's testimony in front of Justice Sahai commission never mentions any thing about whiskey bottles though.
Justice Manoj Kumar Mukherjee commission was set up in 1999, to investigate whether Netaji perished in a plane crash in 1945 or not. He came across the story of Bhagwanji when journalist Ashok Tandon and Shakti Singh, the landlord of Ram Bhawan, approached him with details about Bhagwanji. They also mentioned about the petition filed by Lalita bose claiming Bhagwanji to be Netaji.
The commission visited the Faizabad treasury and out of 2600 items found from Bhagwanji's place, 700 were sent to Kolkata for research. The commission took the testimony of 31 witnesses in this regard.
Most important were of those who had seen Bhagwanji face to face and had also seen Netaji. Durga Prasad Pandey, Srikant Sharma and Apurba Chandra Ghosh testified that Bhagwanji was Netaji and they have met both Netaji in the past and later Bhagwanji multiple times to clear any possible doubt. Mr Ghosh also added that once Bhagwanji enquired about one Bahadur who used to be a guard at Netaji's Elgin Road house and also asked if there is still a calendar with Maa Kali's photo in Netaji's room. Justice Mukherjee found their witnesses considerable.
Another set of witnesses deposed in front the commission who had seen Bhagwanji face to face. Dr Priyabrat Banerjee a doctor from Faizabad, his wife Rita Banerjee and her mother Bithi Chatterjee recounted their experiences of meeting Bhagwanji. Father of Dr. P Banerjee, Dr. T C Banerjee once treated Bhagwanji and was convinced that he is none but Netaji as he had seen Netaji before. According to Banerjee couple, they used to visit Bhagwanji very often and converse with him face to face. They used to ask questions in Bengali and Bhagwanji used to respond in Hindi, with a thick Bengali accent though. Rita Banerjee narrated an incident when upon asking Bhagwanji whether he felt offended due to their frequent probing, he responded in a poignant tone -
"রাগ? যার নিজের মা বাবা থাকতে মা বাবা নেই, নিজের ভাই বোন থাকতে ভাই বোন নেই, নিজের দেশকে নিজের বলার অধিকার নেই, সে কি রাগ করতে পারে? অভিমান করতে পারে" (A man who is deprived of his own parents and siblings, who can't call his country his own, can only feel hurt. He has no right to get angry)
Justice Mukherjee had to set aside their testimony as they had never seen Netaji in person and their testimony can be termed hearsay at best.
Upon receiving the official DNA analysis report and handwriting report which concluded as Bhagwanji not being Netaji, justice Mukherjee had no choice but to declare that Bhagwanji was not Netaji.
Interview exposure: In a casual discussion with film maker Amlan Kusum Ghosh, justice Mukherjee mentioned off-the-record that he was 100% sure that Bhagwanji was Netaji, as that was the most sensible view. Unbeknownst to him, the discussion got captured in camera and was telecast in different channels causing much controversy and uproar.
In 2010, another writ petition, no. 10877(M/B), was filed by Shakti Singh, the current owner of Ram Bhawan, to return all the items collected by Justice Mukherjee commission to Faizabad treasury.
The Allahabad high court while passing the judgement in 2013, made several important observations on how prior commissions have worked and what compelled Justice Mukherjee to accept official DNA result as a proof to dismiss Bhagwanji being Netaji. The high court raised concern about accepting DNA test as full and final and commented as follows,
"Even little doubt with regard to the veracity of teeth will compel a man of common prudence not to ignore the oral and other documentary evidence, that too when there was difference of opinion with regard to handwriting of Netaji compared by the experts."
The below statement made by Allahabad high court indicated that they have strong reservation about accepting the conclusion drawn by earlier investigating committees and would not rule out the possibility of Gumnami Baba being Netaji.
"79. Since still there is no conclusive finding through scientific measures with regard to Gumnami Baba, coupled with alleged accidental death of Netaji, the records and materials must be preserved and protected by all means for research scholars and future generation. Needless to say that we are trusties (Government) of the national assets. All the alleged materials and belongings of Gumnami Baba are national assets and must be protected for future generations so that at appropriate time by appropriate scientific methodological research truth may be unearthed or explored and addition may be made to Indian History with regard to life of Netaji or the person (Gumnami Baba) who has been treated as Netaji by the substantial section of public."
The court criticized Government of India for being lackadaisical in handling the matter of Netaji's disappearance and made following observations.
"84. So far as mystery with regard to the death of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in plane crash is concerned, it is for the Government of India to take a decision, more so when without assigning any reason, the report of Mukherjee Commission has been rejected."
Apart from ordering the state government of UP to establish a museum and preserve Gumnami Baba's belongings scientifically and also directing justice Mukherjee commission to return the items taken during investigation, it ordered setting up another committee to find out the identity of Gumnami Baba.
"C) The Government of U.P is further directed to consider for appointment of a committee consisting of a team of experts and higher officers, headed by a Retired Judge of High Court, to hold an enquiry with regard to the identity of late Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwan Ji who resided in Ram Bhawan, Faizabad and cremated on 18.9.1985 (supra). Let a decision be taken expeditiously, say within a period of three months."
In 2016, Vishnu Sahai Commission was formed following the order of Allahabad High Court.
After 3 years of inquiry and deposition of 45 witnesses, justice Vishnu Sahai came to the following conclusions.
Jayanti Rakshit grand daughter of Sarat Chandra Bose, elder brother of Netaji, and her husband Amiya Nath Rakshit had visited Faizabad later in mid 2000. After speaking to local people and meeting investigating journalists, they were convinced that Gumnami Baba was their granduncle Netaji. They were the first witnesses to be examined by Justice Sahai, who rejected their claim as mere hearsay.
There was only one witness Ayodhya Prasad Gupta, who had seen both Netaji and Bhagwanji and testified that both were in fact same person. Justice Sahai dismissed his claim citing the clauses mentioned above and also owing to the fact the Mr Gupta falsely claimed of testifying in front of Mukherjee commission.
3 investigating journalist Anuj Dhar, Chandrachur Ghose and Ashok Tandon were also questioned. They produced their respective extensive research as exhibits and also testified that Bhagwanji was Netaji. Some important revelations were highlighted by Mr Tandon. -
"" ( In English it means that if what happened between Haripura and Wellington had not happened then life could have gone in a different direction). At Haripura Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was elected as Congress President and in Wellington he resigned from the said post."
Justice Sahai was moved by the set of evidences and commented -
"I have bestowed my anxious consideration to the claim of Chandrachur Ghose that there was a very strong possibility that Gumnami Baba alias Bhagwanji and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose were one and the same person. It should be borne in mind that Judicial Commissions of Enquiry (like the present) do not reach conclusions on a very strong possibility; they only reach one when there is a very high degree of probability of the likelihood of something being true."
But he finally rejected their claims citing the DNA result and the fact none of them have seen Bhagwanji and all their work is based on hearsay.
Rita Banerjee who testified in Mukherjee commission, deposed again. Out of all the witnesses she was the one who had seen Bhagwanji face to face for the longest duration. Her testimony was rejected citing 2 reasons mentioned above and also for the fact that she wrongly mentioned of not appearing before any other commission whereas she did appear in front of Mukherjee commission. This was made as a ground to reject her testimony.
3 witnesses Amita Singh, Nand Kumar Misra and Shiv Prasad Yadav had seen Bhagwanji face to face few times in their lives. Their testimonies were also rejected citing the first two clauses.
7 witnesses were Bose family members who outrightly rejected the idea that Netaji could possibly be spending the rest of his life as a renunciate. Dwarkanath Bose, Chitra Ghose, Nita Ghose, Krishna Ghose and Ardhendu Bose made the following statements in order to dismiss the claim.
"On account of serious afflictions and illness from which Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose suffered and his frequent confinement in Jails it is scarcely conceivable that he could have survived as a mortal human being until his late eighties, as would have been the case had he been Gumnami Baba. (Subhash Chandra Bose was born in 1897 and Gumnami Baba died on September 16, 1985)"
"Since neither the parents nor siblings of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose lived till late eighties, considering the perilous life which Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose had lived, it is most unlikely that he would have lived till the age of 88 years"
"Briefly, it is unthinkable that the person who was Netaji would disappear into seclusion from 1945, until his death 40 years later at the age of 88 years – decades in which his beloved India lurched from crisis to crisis, beginning with the monstrous tragedy of partition on religious lines. Would Subhash Chandra Bose have idly stood by while the agonies of communalism, massive poverty and bad Government assailed the people of India? I will be quite unequivocal in saying that this is impossible."
They also added that mere discovery of certain artefacts related to Bose family in the custody of certain Bhagwanji is no way proof enough to establish him as Netaji. It is also to be noted that those items were procured by one Bijoy Nag at Bhagwanji's behest.
Ardhendu Bose, son of Sailesh Chandra Bose, younger brother of Netaji, added that although his father was the real brother of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and had died in March,1984 and he (his father) had heard about Gumnami Baba and very frequently at his father's residence in Bombay a lot of discussion pertaining to the identity of Gumnami Baba used to take place, had his father felt that Gumnami Baba was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, he would have certainly gone to visit/see him because that would have helped him to determine whether he was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose or not.
Justice Sahai deemed that these statements hold merit and drew a conclusion accordingly
Bulbul controversy: Justice Sahai based his judgement on a letter sent by a teenage girl named Bulbul, asking Gumnami Baba to be present at a function to be held at her house on 23 January 1980, celebrating Netaji's birthday. Justice Sahai deduced that Gumnami baba couldn't be separately invited to celebrate his own birthday, had he been Netaji himself. Bulbul alias Suhita Bhattacharya was never asked to appear as witness, however, she later confirmed in an interview in a webcast that she always knew that Gumnami Baba was Netaji as told by her father Santosh Bhattacharya a frequent visitor to Gumnami Baba.
In December 2019, the commission concluded that Bhagwanji was Subhas Chandra Bose. In its report, the commission further concluded that Bhagwanji was a follower of Bose.
For many of his followers and admirers believe that he was none other than Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose himself, spending the rest of his life as a renunciate in the state of Uttar Pradesh, after his mysterious disappearance in 1945. Nonetheless, two investigating commissions have refused to accept him as Netaji.
Bhagwanji's lectures used to be published in a Bengali monthly named "Jayashree", of which Roy was the editor. Roy's nephew Bijoy Nag later published a book named "Oi Mahamanab Asey (Here comes the great man)" which is a collection of lectures published in the Jayashree monthly. Jayasree is still actively publishing the works of Bhagwanji through various books. In the year 2020, Indrasish Bhattacharya has been appointed as the Constituent Attorney of Bijoy Kumar Nag (Jayasree Patrika Trust) to continue the works and represent the trust. He is a close associate of Sunil Krishna Gupta and Surajit Dasgupta, both deponent at the JMCI.
Bhagwanji's lectures often included matters on contemporary politics, theology, music and even metaphysics.
In April 2017, the Government of Uttar Pradesh decided to digitize all the books recovered from Gumnami Baba's belongings.
As per order passed by Allahabad High Court, Government of Uttar Pradesh under chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, allocated funds to set up a museum for public display of items used by Bhagwanji. A gallery has been dedicated to him in the "Ram Katha Sangrahalay" museum located in Ayodhya. The gallery is yet to be inaugurated.
In 2019, a film named Gumnaami, based on Anuj Dhar's book Conundrum was created which depicted Bhagwanji.
In November 2022 a film named Sannyasi Deshonayak directed by Amlan Kusum Ghosh, starring Victor Bannerjee, Saswata Chatterjee and Locket Chatterjee in lead roles got released. The film explores the life of Bhagwanji during his stay in different places of Uttar Pradesh and searches his possible identity.