MOSCOW, AUG 17: Ajust -released book in Russian retraces the last days of Josef Stalin and makes the startling revelation that the awesome Soviet dictator was ``put to death'' by the KGB (the Soviet secret police) and did not die of brain haemorrhage, as was given to believe in medical reports.The book, Stalin, written by historian Edud Radzensky, tries to uncover the mystery surrounding the death of the Communist Party supremo these past 45-odd years.Excerpts from the book were carried by the popular journal Sutnik. Scholars and historians have hailed it as ``authentic''.After reportedly digging deep, Radzensky came across classified material, managed to get a series of interviews with Stalin's only surviving security aide and pieced together what really happened on those five fateful nights beginning February 28, 1953, when Stalin was last seen alive by his security guards. Stalin's death was officially announced only on March 5.The author narrates that when the guards discovered the former Soviet president in a state of unconsciousness, unable to speak and having wet his pants, they panicked. However, KGB chief Lavrenti Beria reassured them, saying, ``Master is having a sound sleep. Don't get scared and don't bother us.''The security guard, Pavel Lozgachev, in his interviews told the author that Beria's hatchet-man Ivan Khrustal, then chief of security, had told them on the night of February 28 that ``Master does not want anybody to disturb him and has asked everyone to retire for the night.''Stalin had dined, had ``very light wine'' with some guests including his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, Georgi Malenkov, Marshal Bulganin and Beria, at his forest villa. Around midnight, he saw them off and retired to bed, Lozgachev said.Lozgachev, who is spending the twilight of his life in obscurity, gave subtle hints to the historian that a plan had already been laid out to ``eliminate the master''. He accused Beria and Khrustal of direct complicity in the crime. During the funeral, Beria is quoted as having cryptically muttered, ``The light of science,'' and burst into loud, maniacal laughter.The guard said Stalin was in the habit of going to bed past midnight only to wake up between ten and eleven the next morning. It was well beyond noon and the master had not summoned any attendant but no one dared to disturb him. It was only around 10 pm on March 1 that Lozgachev was able to muster the courage to enter Stalin's personal chamber as a packet from the CentralCommittee had to be urgently delivered.
