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A petition has been filed before the Calcutta High Court seeking an inquiry into the ‘mysterious’ death of Shri Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who founded Bharatiya Jana Sangha after resigning from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet and suspiciously died in Kashmir in the year 1953.

“His death while in custody of then Jammu Kashmir Government raised ‘wide suspicion’ across the country and demands for an independent inquiry were also raised, but nothing has happened since 1953," the plea states.

The petitioners, Advocates Smarajit Roy Chowdhury and Ajit Kumar Mishra have pleaded that de-classification of all the documents relating to Mukherjee's death should be done and a report should be submitted within a fortnight.

The petition argues that as of today the citizens of India have no information about how Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee died while he was in custody of the-then Jammu Kashmir Government, therefore, the country has a right to get appropriate information about his mysterious death.

Notably, the plea also seeks a categorical statement from the Union and West Bengal Governments as to whether Dr. Mukherjee’s death was a result of "Nehru Conspiracy" and demands for the Government of India’s stand on it.

The petitioners have also urged for court's direction to the responsible authorities to form an enquiry commission headed by a retired Chief Justice of India.

The plea reads that after being inducted in Nehru’s Cabinet as a Minister for Industry and Supply in 1947, soon after Mahatma Gandhi’s death in 1948, a conflict began between Dr. Mukherjee and Prime Minister Nehru.

The petition states that Dr. Mukherjee was a member of Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha and Prime Minister Nehru along with Sardar Patel blamed Mahasabha for creating the situation for the assassination of Gandhi.

Following the same, Dr. Mukherjee along with K.C. Neogi resigned from Nehru’s cabinet over a disagreement about the 1950 Delhi Pact with Pakistani Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, the petition adds.

It has been said that Mukherjee was against the establishment of minority commissions as he thought it left Hindus in East Bengal at the mercy of Pakistan, and he also opposed the Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

The petition further states that in the first quarter of 1953, Dr. Mukherjee had a lengthy tripartite correspondence with Nehru and Abdullah regarding the Kashmir issue and on May 9, 1953, he addressed a rally in Ambala and Jalandhar criticizing Nehru's policy, demanding revocation of the Article 370.

The plea avers that Mukherjee was arrested by Katua police as he entered Kashmir without permission and thereafter, he was shifted to Srinagar Central Jail and subsequently shifted to an old dilapidated house.

It’s been alleged by the petitioners that while in jail, Dr. Mukherjee was infected by Dry Pleurisy and the doctor forcefully pushed streptomycin injection twice, as a result, his fever crossed 105 degrees fahrenheit, he felt pain in the chest and consequently on June 23 at 3:40 am he expired in captivity.

The petition alleges that though his death raised wide suspicion and demands for an independent inquiry including earnest request from his mother were also made, but Nehru ignored such requests and no inquiry commission was set up.

“Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee's death therefore, remains a matter of controversy," the plea reads.

The plea raises the following three basic questions:

1. Why was Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee not arrested before entering Kashmir? Is it because the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over Jammu and Kashmir?
2. Why did Nehru never meet him while he was travelling in Jammu & Kashmir?
3. While Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was in detention why was no trial held by Sk. Abdulla's government and after his arrest in Katua on May 11, 1953 why was he never produced before the court?

Therefore, on the grounds including the then government's failure to produce Mukherjee before any appropriate forum of law within 24 hours of his arrest in Kashmir, and their inability to give him any proper political status though he was one of the best-qualified leaders of independent India, the petitioners being aggrieved by and dissatisfied with, the illegal activity of the respondent governments, have moved this application.