Both the Indian President and the Prime Minister Friday condoled the death of Chitra, an eminent academician, who, family members said, died of cardiac arrest on Thursday.
President Ram Nath Kovind tweeted his condolence message: "Prof Chitra Ghosh, a respected scholar and niece of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose dedicated her life to academics and contributed in the fields of social work and human rights, especially women empowerment."
Modi also took to Twitter to condole her death. "Professor Chitra Ghosh made pioneering contributions to academics and community service. I recall my interaction with her, when we discussed many subjects, including declassification of files relating to Netaji Bose. Saddened by her demise."
Netaji's nephew and India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leader Chandra Kumar Bose tweeted what he claimed "a historic picture -- my father Amiya Nath Bose and my aunt - Chitra Ghosh with Jawaharlal Nehru (first Indian PM) at our residence at 1 Woodburn Park, Kolkata, which was a venue for many conferences during the freedom movement".
Revered by Bengalis for defiant patriotism, Netaji was an Indian nationalist whose attempt during World War II to rid India of the British rule with the help of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan left a troubled legacy.
In 1941, Bose escaped from his Calcutta (now Kolkata) home where he was under house arrest at the time. Passing through a treacherous route via Afghanistan, he first reached Germany and met Hitler to request military help in ousting the British from India. From there, he travelled to Japan to get Tokyo's help in forming the Indian National Army, a militia.
Bose disappeared at the end of World War II, after last being seen at Taihoku airport.
Responding to a right to information query, the Indian Home Ministry said in 2017 that "after considering the reports of various commissions, the government has arrived at the conclusion that Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose died in a plane crash on August 18, 1945".
However, many of his followers still believe that Netaji came back to India as a Hindu monk, while some are of the opinion that he went into self-imposed exile in Siberia.