According to the Mukherjee Commission report one of the files called for the order dated March 23, 2000, one of the files called for was file 12(226)/56-PM (investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of Subhas Chandra Bose). In response the Directorate of PMO responded that the file was not available as it was destroyed (letter dates May 2, 2000). The commission asked to intimate the subject and the content of the file and the circumstances in which the file was destroyed. Ministry of Home Affairs in the meanwhile filed an affidavit before the commission on June 22, 2000 that there are reportedly no file/paper concerning Netaji/INA in the possession of the departments like cabinet secretariat, intelligence bureau, RAW. But this was belied by the assertion of the letter on 23rd May which stated that the records of the cabinet proceedings are kept permanently in cabinet secretariat and therefore the investigation into the circumstances leading to the death of Subhas Chandra Bose file was destroyed in the course of routine review of old records. The file was destroyed in 1972. A copy of the relevant page of the file register showing destruction of the file was presented in Mukherjee commission by the PMO Director. Mrs. Gandhi in a response to Samar Guha had mentioned in 1974 on the destruction of the file that the file contained copies of certain documents still available in other files and hence destroyed. Cabinet Secretariat mentioned that they had no record relating to the event as the organization was formed in 1968. Justice Mukherjee notes in his report that the stand taken by the cabinet secretariat is "evasive and unfathomable."
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