‘People came to the commission with belief that Gumnami Baba was Netaji’

As the mystery around Netaji’s disappearance continues, yet another report has been drawn up, this time by retired judge of the Allahabad high court

Justice Vishnu Sahai

. The Justice Sahai Commission, which was instituted last year by the Samajwadi Party government in UP to find the identity of Faizabad’s

Gumnami Baba

who many believed was Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, submitted its report to governor Ram Naik on Monday. Justice Sahai, in an exclusive interview, told TOI how the strong belief among people and the long time lapse between Gumnami Baba’s death in 1985 and depositions by witnesses more than 30 years later made it a challenging task. Excerpts...

Q: When was the commission instituted and what was its mandate?
A: The commission was formed through an Uttar Pradesh government notification of June 28, 2016. The commission was formed to find out the identity of

Gumnami Baba

alias Bhagwanji, who died in Ram Bhavan in Faizabad in September 1985.

Q: What has been your conclusion?

A: I cannot comment on this. I have submitted the inquiry report to the governor.

Q: What were the sources of evidence on which you based your report?

A: The primary source of evidence were the witnesses who either appeared before me in person or whose affidavits were treated by me as statements before the commission. The second source were articles pertaining to Netaji

Subhash Chandra

Bose and his family, recovered from the room in Ram Bhavan in Faizabad where Gumnami Baba lived. The articles include round glasses and photos of Netaji’s parents. The primary source was the evidence of witnesses while the secondary evidence only had corroborative value.

In all, 35 persons appeared in person before the commission and 10 filed affidavits, which were treated by the commission as their statements.

Q: What did the witnesses share with you as evidence?

A: A majority of the witnesses said Gumnami Baba was Netaji or may have been Netaji. Some witnesses also said he was not.

Q: What was the most challenging task that you faced while evaluating the evidence of witnesses?
A: Despite the fact that the mandate of the commission was to find out the identity of Gumnami Baba, majority of the witnesses started with the premise that Gumnami Baba was indeed Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Their approach was that in case the commission did not agree with their premise, only then should it try to find out the identity of Gumnami Baba. In other words, they put the cart before the horse.

Another aspect I had to keep in mind while evaluating evidence of witnesses was that Gumnami Baba died in 1985 and witnesses gave their statements in 2016 and 2017. This is a good time lag of over three decades. It is natural that with passage of time, their memory dimmed and, at times, they were prone to imagining facts and events about which they deposed.

Q: Who were the witnesses who gave evidence to the commission?

A: It was an assorted lot. There were those who visited Gumnami Baba as they perceived him to be a spiritual person. Some came in contact with him while serving him. Some journalists who were curious about his identity also deposed. And, some members of Netaji’s family deposed too.

Q: What made those witnesses, who felt Gumnami Baba was Netaji, believe so?

A: Many of them said they had this belief because of the striking resemblance between the face of Netaji and that of Gumnami Baba.