The Mukherjee Commission which is probing the mysterious disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in August 1945 — and all deponents accompanying the panel to Moscow — have come back practically empty-handed.The panel was denied access to three archives expected to store classified information on Bose: KGB, GRU and the President’s archives in Kremlin.‘‘We are disappointed. We were not allowed access to any of classified files in the KGB archives with regard to Bose. Our trips to Omsk and Irkhutsk also did not yield any fruit. Even the deponents were not prepared to speak,’’ Subrata Bose, Forward Bloc MP, who accompanied the Commission to Moscow said.Researcher Purabi Roy, who first bumped into some classified information on Bose in 1995 in Moscow, was also disappointed, since most of the Russian deponents were either not available or did not reveal anything. ‘‘While Raikov denied anything, Kolesnikov was away on an assignment in Turkey. Turadzev however said there is classified information on Bose in the KGB archives. The Commission could not access these files,’’ Roy said.He was also miffed at the ‘‘lackadaisical’’ attitude of the Indian authorities coordinating the visit in Moscow.Sources in the panel, however, said that two files — one pertaining to Bose’s links with Russian news agencies and the other relating to Sarat Chandra Bose — were recovered and brought back to India. The panel will make its report on Russia public on October 6.
