Indian investigators would join their Federal Bureau of Investigation counterparts on Monday to question David Coleman Headley, nabbed by FBI for plotting a major terror attack in India at LeT's behest, as fresh inputs indicated that he was planning to visit Pakistan this month.
Pakistan on Thursday claimed to have arrested three Pakistani citizens, who have been allegedly trained by India's Research and Analysis Wing, in the eastern Punjab province for allegedly spying for India.Announcing the arrest, Capital City Police Officer Pervez Rathor claimed that the three were working for RAW, the local Geo TV reported.He claimed that the trio used to provide photographs of important places to the RAW, while some important buildings were on their target.
At a time when intelligence from India's eastern and western borders is of paramount importance, the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, seems to be a divided house, a reliable source told rediff.com
The development comes as a surprise, as it was earlier believed that the competition to head India's external intelligence agency after its current chief Ashok Chaturvedi retires on January 30 was between P V Kumar, the senior-most officer of the organisation after Chaturvedi, and Sanjeev Tripathi, another senior officer.
It was a rare event for the Pakistani experts and strategists dealing with India when former chief of Research and Analysis Wing A S Dulat went to Lahore in the last week of January. He was there to attend a closed-door seminar to discuss range of issues concerning India and Pakistan.
Two Pakistani boys, who were arrested after straying across Barmer border in Rajasthan, were handed over to the Pakistani authorities as they were found innocent. They were quizzed by a team of officers from BSF, RAW, CID and the Rajasthan police, Meena said, adding nothing incriminating was found against the two. The duo, which apparently dug the earth below a barbed wire fence on the Indo-Pak border to sneak into Barmer on Saturday, were apprehended by the BSF.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday chargesheeted a former senior official of the Research and Analysis Wing for giving out certain details in a book -- which alleges corruption in the country's external intelligence agency -- in violation of the Official Secrets Act.The chargesheet was filed against Major General (retired) V K Singh. The soldier-turned-author spoke about alleged political interference and corruption in the intelligence agency.
At a recent high level review meeting convened by the government, RAW officials tried to blame the CBI for not securing the Red Corner Notice against Singh, who fled to the US in May 2004, despite surveillance while the CBI spoke of Interpol's decision and also its subsequent correspondence with RAW officials seeking more details. Singh's disappearance became a major embarrassment for the government and the RAW.
The timing of these transfers, while being projected as routine, is significant in both strategic and political terms, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
A woman official from the Research and Analysis Wing allegedly tried to commit suicide on Tuesday by consuming poison right outside the Prime Minister's Office in a dramatic incident that brought the country's external intelligence agency in public gaze yet again.The employee, identified as Nisha Bhatia, was posted at the training centre of the RAW in Gurgaon and had alleged sexual harrassment by her superiors.The government has already constituted an inquiry.
In a top secret mission, a team of the Research and Analysis Wing tracked down an absconding accused in the Bangalore serial blasts case in Muscat, and sneaked him out of Oman, since India doesn't have an extradition treaty with that country.The entire operation was so secretive that even the Air Traffic Control was taken aback when they received a message to help the chartered aircraft land at the Bengaluru International Airport.
Prime Minister Modi has entrusted Amit Shah with the task of coordinating all the agencies with their power to monitor movement and phone calls, says R Rajagopalan.
A BTech and PhD in police, human rights and social justice, Singh joined the federal anti-money laundering investigations agency in 2009 on deputation from Uttar Pradesh where he was serving as a state police service officer.
Mathrani arrived in New Delhi late Saturday night from Vienna.
To say now that the test was a fizzle and that he knew it all along has caused a lot of concern in the minds of our public. This could unwittingly encourage adventurism by India's adversaries.
The central government on Monday issued a Gazette notification to extend the tenure of defence secretary, home secretary, director of Intelligence Bureau, and secretary of Research and Analysis Wing for a period of two years.
He was permanently absorbed into the ED cadre in 2014 and has headed some high-profile investigations into the 2G spectrum allocation case, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the money laundering cases against former Union finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy and former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, the Aircel Maxis and VVIP choppers case.
Dhar claimed that the RAW had initially informed Mission Netaji that it had no record or files relating to the alleged disappearance of Netaji as the organisation was formed on September 21, 1968.
The famous Meenakshi temple in Madurai in Tamil Nadu is on the Lashkar-e-Tayiba's hit-list, fears the Intelligence Bureau.
The searches come a day after the CBI raided the residence of Major General (Retd) V K Singh, following the registration of a case against him, under the Official Secrets Act.
The raids on his residence come close on the heels of the publication of his book, which stirred a huge controversy and generated extreme reactions. Maj Gen Singh was on deputation with RAW when India was engaged in the Kargil conflict.
In a first of its kind incident, a senior officer of the Research and Analysis Wing was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs one lakh from a Chennai-based manufacturer. Dr A S Narayan Rao, working as a scientist in the technical division of RAW, was arrested by the CBI from a hotel in Karol Bagh on Monday night, when he was allegedly taking the amount from the manufacturer, CBI sources said.
At a talk organised by South Asia Centre, London School of Economics' (LSE) Pakistan Development Society and the South Asia Future Forum in London, the two former spy chiefs agreed that cricket can serve as a peacemaker and can be helpful for the national interest of both countries.
Mishra and Doval hold the rank of a Cabinet minister.
Former RAW chief A S Dulat on terrorism, Pakistan and Kashmir.
In the book The Kaoboys of R&AW -- Down the Memory Lane that is yet to be published, he said the US interest in Punjab militancy "continued for a little more than a decade and tapered off after the assassination of Indira Gandhi."
The sources said the Centre had decided in 2007 to frame a policy on this issue and Wednesday's meeting was the first move in this connection.
The first lecture was delivered by Shashi Tharoor, whose selection had surprised many and disliked by some. Tharoor spoke, inter alia, on the need for greater transparency in the work of the R&AW.
The CBI sleuths, in their attempt to grill Singh, said that by naming the officials in his book, he had allegedly violated Section five of the Official Secrets Act (wrongful communication of information)
If he is appointed, he will succeed Hormis P Tharakan as chief of India's external agency.
This move is understood to have been taken in view of the secrets of national importance involved in the case.
Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, who has been replaced as ISI chief, will remain in the forefront of Pakistani initiatives in Afghanistan as also in the peace talks with the Tehrik e Taliban, Pakistan. He will also get a year plus to serve in a corps command, remaining in the race for selection as the next army chief when General Bajwa retires in November 2022, explains Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing.
A 290-page book, due to hit bookshelves next week, could set the cat among the pigeons of India's intelligence and political communities.
Model Tariq Ahmad Dar, who Bangladesh accused to be an Indian spy, and who India's Research and Analysis Wing accused to be a Kashmiri terrorist, spoke to rediff.com about his experiences.
Why did the department and his colleagues not stop this 'rogue' officer from implicating an innocent man while the entire nation was watching for weeks? The answer is they either approved, or disapproved and refused to intervene or they didn't care, notes Aakar Patel.
Major General V K Singh's book has raised a controversy, with unconfirmed reports saying that R&AW chief Ashok Chaturvedi has called for a ban on it.
His visit comes ahead of the upcoming official trip of Indian Army chief Gen M M Naravane to Nepal in the first week of November. Goel called on Prime Minister Oli at his official residence at Baluwatar on Wednesday evening, the premier's press advisor Surya Thapa told PTI.
