``In the archives of the Nuremberg international military tribunal, which were deposited with the International Court of Justice, no trace could be found of charges against Subhas Chandra Bose,'' wrote Arthur Th Witteveen, secretary of the court in charge of information matters, to noted Oslo-based Bengali economist and Netaji researcher Amalendu Guha in response to the latter's query on the matter. Prof Guha informed this along with faxed documents to UNI.

The International Court of Justice's letter of June 18 to Prof Guha said, ``further research, however, produced some references to Bose in the so-called ``ministries case'' (USA vs Ernst Von Weizsacker et al) before the US military tribunal IV which was created by ordinance no.7 of the military government, Germany, United States zone. We do not possess the archives of those tribunals, butonly the published record of their proceedings.''

Prof Guha, director of the Oslo-based institute of alternative development research, had internationally raised the issue of the country's greatest freedom movement icon's continuing status as ``'war criminal''. He had sought clarification from the chairman of the International Court of Justice on whether the charges of war crime brought against Bose by the British Government during World War II had been withdrawn.

As per the documents of the trial of war criminals before the Nuermberg military tribunals, Bose's name was mentioned as an Indian nationalist opposing Mahatma Gandhi and as one who had declared his sympathy for Germany in World War II and had accepted an invitation to go to Germany. Hitlar associate Keppler was in charge of taking care of Netaji, it said.

Prof Guha had taken up the query in earnest when Union Home Minister L K Advani declared in March this year that Netaji was never declared a war criminal as per the information provided bythe British Government. Prof Guha wrote to the International Court after Supreme Court advocate Bijan Ghosh informed him that the Indian Government was trying to prove that Subhash Chandra Bose was never declared a war criminal, though the same was not correct. Ghosh was the same advocate who had earlier challenged the posthumous conferment of Bharat Ratna to Netaji in 1992.

Prof Guha had also written to British Prime Minister Tony Blair last December in this regard to which the foreign and Commonwealth office had replied that the `` question of Bose and other INA members was considered in 1945 by the Government of India in consultation with his majesty's Government and all relevant papers are to be found in volume VI of the transfer of power series while others are available at the public record office or the British library.''

According to Prof Guha, while the Government of India led by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru inherited all the liabilities and obligations of the British Government in 1947, it didnothing to withdraw the charges of war criminality against Netaji. He said neither did the successive government take any move to remove the tag from Netaji's name. Even the present Atal Behari Vajpayee Government did not take any move to annul the charges, he said.

Prof Guha said Advani was wrong when he declared that there was no charges of war criminality against Bose from the part of the Government of India because the independent government had inherited all liabilities from the former Royal British government.