There are interesting and intriguing references made to the Shaulmari ashrama by Bhagwanji. Even though it is generally believed by the researchers that Bhagwanji had no connection with Shaulmari and Swami Saradananda was a different Sadhu who was from East Bengal, there are some lingering questions. What prompted Saradananda to settle in Shaulmari with such a large set up of ashrama and security arrangements? Granted that secretary Ramani Das, a local Congress leader whose guest he was, arranged for his funds, how could he establish such a vast network within a short period?
Why did Major Satya Gupta who knew Netaji intimately claim Saradananda to be Netaji
Why did Uttam Chand Malhotra, in whose house Netaji had stayed for 46 days in KAbul first denied that Saradananda was Netaji but subsequently he propagated the view that Saradananda was Netaji and even collected funds for his ashrama
Why did the Central and the State Governments, who officially had declared Netaji to be dead, spent so much resources to get information about Saradananda
Why was Nehru so interested that he sent Surendramohan Ghosh to investigate
Why did Dr. Gop Gurbox first denied that Saradananda was Netaji and later said that he was Netaji
Why did other similar flips flops continue to happen - like one ashrama key figure Haripada Basu first sent a telegram to Nehru that Saradananda was Netaji and was promptly dismissed from the ashram, but later he claimed that the sadhu was not Netaji
Why did the IB continue to track Saradananda until atleast 1969 and even beyond, even though handwriting tests and other means of identification made it clear to them that he was not Netaji. This seems to be the most pertinent question
Barun Sengupta believed that the Shaulmari Sadhu was set up by IB. Was it an attention diversion tactics by GoI so that people never got to know about the real Netaji when he would come back? Or was it enacted to create a deliberate confusion? If so why did Saradananda deny that he was Netaji? In order to keep the mystery and debates alive? Was it a game plan - by whom? Bhagwanji says that it was a "parallel bluff" - by whom? Did Bhagwanji enact this drama to confuse GoI or Nehru? Did he deliberately set up the ashram with his network and plant Saradananda there? Some of his comments reveal that there was definitely a connection. He said to Charanik in Oi Mahamanab Ase that there was nobody to lit a fire, all were dead. If fire was to be kindled (implying if people had forced GoI to come clean on Netaji), it would have been done at the beginning of the Shaulmari episode. At other times he said that why didn't the Shaulamri Sadhu come out and declare openly that he was Netaji - it would then have been an interesting game. People would have been happy to get Netaji and even the so called family would come down from Europe and there would have been quite a reunion (he was sarcastic).