Two of the three government-appointed inquiries into Subhash Chandra Bose's death concluded that he died in an airplane crash.
Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to Moscow later this month, an independent journalist and grandnephew of Subhash Chandra Bose, Ashis Ray, released a set of documents in London, which he claimed are part of the classified files of the Indian government on the former Congress president, also popularly called Netaji.
Mr Ray released what he claimed is the correspondence between the Indian and Russian governments between 1991 and 1995 over Netaji's whereabouts in 1945, the year of his death as per records. In one letter, India wanted to know if Mr Bose had entered Russian territory in "1945 or subsequently."
In September 1991, the Indian government wrote to the Russian Federation, asking whether Netaji had entered or stayed in Russia. The Russians wrote back in January 1992, saying, "No information whatsoever is available on the stay of the former President of INC (Indian National Congress)."
Three years later, India wrote again to Russia. "There has been further speculation in this context reportedly on the basis of archival material. Please examine all material for a final determination on whether or not Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose entered or stayed anywhere in territory of Soviet Union in 1945 or subsequently." Russia repeated its earlier reply.
"To arrive at a conclusion, we first need to eliminate what is not correct. This exchange of letters between the two governments is an indication that Subash Chandra Bose perhaps did not go as suspected by a few people," said Mr Ray.
In the last few months, the campaign for declassification of government files on Netaji has picked up momentum. The freedom fighter is believed to have died in an airplane crash at Taipei in Taiwan on August 18, 1945. Many in India had then rejected the theory and demanded evidence. Two of the three government-appointed inquiries into Mr Bose's death concluded that he died in an airplane crash.
Mr Ray says he will start releasing more documents from next month. "(Netaji's) family and his followers need a closure and my effort to independently find out the truth will hopefully get just that," he said.