Netaji's kin demand DNA test of ashes kept at Japan's Renkoji temple

Bose, who lives in Germany, said, "Almost two decades ago in the course of the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry (JMCI), a precious opportunity to conduct a DNA test, and to bring the remains of Netaji home to his beloved motherland, was sadly lost. According to the JMCI Report, the Renkoji authorities were not willing to allow a DNA test of the alleged remains." In his statement, he pointed out that the chief priest of Renkoji Temple, Reverend Nichiko Mochizuki, had written to the Indian embassy in Tokyo in 2005 insisting that the remains be returned. Also read | Amid Afghanistan-Taliban conflict, Punjabis worried over safety of gurdwaras Bose, an IT consultant, further quoted excerpts from a letter written by Mochizuki, whose father is known to have received the purported remains of Netaji in September 1945, to make his point. According to the excerpt, Mochizuki told the embassy, "I felt that if I accepted the proposal for DNA testing and the remains are eventually returned to India, my father's soul and spirit could finally be at rest. In this way, I agree to offer my co-operation for the testing." The translation of the chief priest's original letter was commissioned by Madhuri Bose, Netaji's grandniece. Renkoji Temple authorities were fully supportive of a DNA test on the remains, Bose maintained. Earlier, Netaji's daughter Anita Bose Pfaff had also requested the governments of India and Japan to make arrangements to bring her father's purported remains back home. -PTC News with inputs from agencies