Ashok Chaturvedi
Encyclopedia
Ashok Chaturvedi was the chief of India's external intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing
(R&AW) from 1 February 2007 to 31 January 2009. Chaturvedi succeeded P.K.H. Tharakan, a 1968 batch officer of the IPS Kerala cadre who retired on 31 January 2007.
Chaturvedi was part of the Indian Police Service
(IPS) as a 1970 batch officer from the Madhya Pradesh
cadre before joining R&AW's own service cadre the Research and Analysis Service (RAS). Chaturvedi, who was an analyst on Bangladesh
and Nepal
, had also served in the United Kingdom
and Canada
besides a stint in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir
.
. During his three-year tenure as cabinet secretary, B.K. Chaturvedi became an alternative center of power in New Delhi
and had wrestled away the authority of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
India's external intelligence agency operates on the basis of seniority and time spent in the organization, which helped Ashok Chaturvedi get into a position to be considered as the head of R&AW. He had previously been overlooked for promotion within R&AW on two separate occasions and it is believed that several government secretaries expressed their strong reservation in restoring his seniority. However, B.K. Chaturvedi dismissed their opinions and controversially declined to excuse himself from the committee which promoted and re-graded his relative in the organization.
At the start of 2007, there had been a delay in officially announcing the new head of R&AW because of a torrent of protests from the country's vast intelligence community that Ashok Chaturvedi could be chosen over perceivably more experienced individuals. There were serious concerns that he would damage India's national strategic interests. It is also believed that India's National Security Advisor
, Mayankote Kelath Narayanan
, wanted the outgoing R&AW chief, P.K.H. Tharakan, to object to Ashok Chaturvedi's promotion as head of the intelligence agency. As a result an announcement on the new head of R&AW was held back as the Government wanted the row settled first.
However, Ashok Chaturvedi formally replaced Tharakan on 1 February 2007. Once again, B.K. Chaturvedi had attended the promotions panel that decided the head of R&AW and played a pivotal role in helping his relative take charge of the organization. Ashok Chaturvedi's appointment resulted in senior members of R&AW leaving the agency in apparent protest. Narayanan eventually endorsed Ashok Chaturvedi's appointment despite serious misgivings.
and the communist bloc during the Cold War
. There is now a perception that Chaturvedi's intent was to re-establish close relations with Russia's external Intelligence agency the Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki (SVR) or the Foreign Intelligence Service.
The Khaleej Times
in an extensive investigative article, stated that Chaturvedi had used his position to systematically downgrade and sideline all his perceived rivals within the organisation, replacing them with people loyal to himself, creating a tremendous amount of bitterness and resentment and a culture of fear. It also added that Chaturvedi has been compared to the former director of the FBI, J Edgar Hoover, with some accusing him of having "developed a personality cult around himself, portraying the impression that he is untouchable".
Chaturvedi's protégé had been identified as Sanjeev Tripathi
, who was being groomed to take over in 2009. He was personally selected by Chaturvedi to assess sensitive intelligence dossiers. However, according to the Khaleej Times, Tripathi is an administrator with no prior experience as an intelligence analyst. The Indian intelligence community has dubbed Chaturvedi and Tripathi "Dumb and Dumber" a reference to the Jim Carey film. However Tripathi did not succeed Chaturvedi and the post of R&AW chief went to K.C.Verma. Sanjeev Tripathi later became the R&AW chief on 30 December 2010 after Verma voluntarily retired the day Tripathi was to be superannuated.
Chaturvedi has also been at loggerheads with several members of the Congress-led coalition, including the National Security Advisor
MK Narayanan
. At a conference in December 2007 in Bahrain
, Narayanan warned about the threat of international terrorism and its intention to hit at economic targets in the Middle East
and South Asia
. However, Chaturvedi and Tripathi took a completely opposite view and decided to downgrade R&AW's focus on the threat of terrorism.
However, Chaturvedi curiously resurrected the issue months later when V.K. Singh's home was raided on 21 September 2007 by officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI). A case was registered against V.K. Singh under the Official Secrets Act of India (OSA). The following day the offices of the publishers of the book, Manas Publications, were also raided.
Addressing a media conference where former intelligence officials were present to support him, V.K. Singh spectacularly revealed that the R&AW officer who went on an eight month leave of absence without permission was in fact Ashok Chaturvedi.
Singh said the R&AW chief's absence from work was "an act of gross indiscipline…can he (Chaturvedi) bring discipline to the organization if he does not attend office for eight months?"
The investigative magazine, Outlook
, stated that Chaturvedi appeared to have a personal vendetta against V.K. Singh. They also claimed that sources from the CBI had confirmed to them that the R&AW officer, mentioned in VK Singh's book, who went on unofficial leave for eight months was indeed Chaturvedi.
The raid on V.K. Singh's house had also been embarrassing for Chaturvedi as initially the wrong address, belonging to another retired R&AW official, was raided in East Delhi instead of the author's house in Gurgaon
, . It took the officials another three hours before they finally reached the correct residence. Ironically, the whole controversy has embarrassed the Indian government and revived the sales of Singh's book. In fact, the publishers ordered another print run of 3,000 copies because of the high demand. The whole incident has also created a new debate over the freedom of expression in India and the level of public accountability of the countries' intelligence agencies. Legal experts also believe it would be a futile attempt to charge V.K. Singh under the Official Secrets Act, particularly as other former intelligence officials have released books that have been deemed to be more damaging in terms of disclosing R&AW's secrets, but no action was ever taken against them.
Chaturvedi had sanctioned publication of a book written by Shankaran Nair, a former head of R&AW, in which the Gandhi family, particularly former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
, is reported to have been behind a number of controversial deals involving bribery. It has been questioned as to why Chaturvedi tried to gag V.K. Singh yet allowed Nair's book to be published without any scrutiny. This has brought Chaturvedi into a direct confrontation with the Nehru-Gandhi Family
.
After the V.K. Singh book dispute, Chaturvedi issued a directive wanting all R&AW's current employees to sign a declaration that they would not write about their careers after they leave the agency. Opinion, however, is divided on the issue as many say it's unfair to censor such voices. The declaration wants to bar officers from writing about the agency even after the two-year cooling off period post-retirement. The new ruling would mean that officers would have to take permission to write and even then it cannot be published without prior clearance from the agency. The declaration says for any violation the officer will be held liable for action, such as no pension, to charges under the Official Secrets Act.
, Sri Lanka
. Ravi Nair, who held the rank of Joint Secretary within R&AW, was sent back to New Delhi when it transpired that he had developed irregular relations with a Chinese woman. Officials posted at the Indian High Commission, sent reports about Nair to their respective departments paving the way for his recall. What was of particular concern, was that Nair had started the relationship with the same woman during a previous posting to the Indian Consulate in Hong Kong
. He apparently continued to maintain ties with her after he was posted to Colombo in 2006.
Infighting within R&AW also may have led to the Nair's recall from Sri Lanka. In fact, Nair's activities had aroused suspicion prior to his posting in Colombo, whilst at the agency's Chennai
office when it was alleged he was involved in another extramarital affair. Following reports from the Chennai office, then head of R&AW P.K.H. Tharakan, directed his second-in-command at the time and the current R&AW chief Ashok Chaturvedi to conduct an inquiry and take suitable steps. However, Chaturvedi did not take any action and conversely Nair's name was put forward for the Colombo posting, considered one of R&AW's most sensitive stations. Outlook Magazine stated that had Chaturvedi conducted an inquiry and taken action at Tharakan's behest, Nair would never have been considered for the posting to Sri Lanka and R&AW could have saved itself the embarrassment Nair has caused.
The Colombo and Chennai scandals were apparently not Nair's first transgression. At various other foreign postings and travels, several allegations were filed against him in internal R&AW reports by senior intelligence officers. Prior to his posting in Sri Lanka, Nair had previously been stationed to the United States
, Bhutan
, Pakistan
and Hong Kong
but despite all the controversy surrounding him, Nair continued to receive support from Chaturvedi and another former head of R&AW, Shankaran Nair. Instead of being reprimanded by Chaturvedi, Nair has been allowed to carry on with his duties.
declared by the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf
. Apparently, just days before Musharraf installed emergency rule, Chaturvedi had advised the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, that the situation in Pakistan was stable and that there was no chance that Musharraf would declare martial law.
Not anticipating any major change in Pakistan, Chaturvedi did not feel the need to prepare for any unpredictable change in circumstances. On 3 November 2007, Musharraf suspended the constitution
and declared a state of emergency
. New Delhi was caught completely off guard and the Indian prime minister apparently "was livid."
or China
, Chaturvedi is the first head of India's Intelligence agency whose area of expertise is Nepal
. However, in December 2007 the R&AW Chief faced another embarrassing scandal when the 'Nepal Weekly' magazine revealed that R&AW was trying to interfere in the internal political dynamics of Nepal. The magazine also revealed the names of various R&AW agents working at the Indian embassy in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu which included Suresh Dhundiya, R&AW's station chief in Kathmandu, and his deputies Alok Tiwari posted as First Secretary (Education) and K. V. Johri, a counsellor. It was also publicized that Dhundiya was being replaced as station chief by Alok Joshi. This revelation resulted in Joshi being exposed before he even assumed his new position thus compromising R&AW's intelligence apparatus in Nepal. To make matters worse, Nepalese newspapers were also able to find out the detailed travel plans of Chaturvedi's visit to Nepal in December 2007, including the airline he flew on and which hotel he stayed in.
Chaturvedi forced the interim government of Girija Prasad Koirala to award a contract to an Indian firm for a hydropower project. It has also been alleged that Chaturvedi may have financially benefited personally from the deal. Questions have been raised in India as to why the head of an Indian intelligence agency was promoting a commercial company in Nepal.
The timing of these events coincided with worsening relations between India and Nepal. In a snub to India, Nepal's Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan
requested a high level Chinese delegation visiting Kathmandu to extend the Tibet rail into Nepal. The request carries significance against the backdrop of Nepal's warning to India not to go ahead with a proposed highway along the India-Nepal border.
The Telegraph Weekly of Nepal commented that "With R&AW facing continuous debacle in its Nepal affairs, it is highly likely that the R&AW machinery will come in a heavy way in order to regain its lost ground in Nepal. Chaturvedi is being told to pack up by the New Delhi set-up, it is talked".
, the commander of the United States Pacific Command
made an official trip to India in August 2007 and met a number of senior Indian defense and intelligence chiefs including Chaturvedi. However, Chaturvedi did not know who Keating was, and kept referring to him as John Negroponte
, the U.S. deputy Secretary of State. In another episode, before leaving on a trip to China in January, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked Chaturvedi for a briefing about his perspectives of the current senior leadership in China. Instead of delegating the task to the China section within R&AW, Chaturvedi attempted to put together his own report which talked about Jiang Zemin
and Zhu Rongji
, the former president and premier respectively, both of whom retired in 2003.
It was reported that several Western intelligence agencies were reluctant to share classified information with R&AW's top officials, because of Chaturvedi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior officials of his secretariat were unhappy with him as a result.
The Middle East Times revealed that at a closed-door meeting at the start of 2008 which all of India's intelligence and military chiefs were present, Chaturvedi was asked for his opinion on the upcoming security challenges the country faced. The R&AW chief presented his views while chewing tobacco and sounding incoherent. Narayanan asked him to clean out his mouth. But "Embarrassment turned to humiliation when Chaturvedi resumed his analysis only to be told by Narayanan that he was making more sense when the tobacco was in his mouth."
The pressure to sack him on the grounds of gross incompetence had reached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who supported by senior leaders in the ruling Congress Party, gave his approval to quietly remove Chaturvedi.
Chaturvedi made a direct personal appeal to Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi
to save his job, claiming that he was not in good health and that he should be allowed to serve out the remainder of his service period. Gandhi, passed the responsibility for the decision to Narayanan with her recommendation for a review. Narayanan deferred making any decision thus reprieving Chaturvedi. G.S. Bajpai, a former head of R&AW and Tripathi's father-in law, also intervened and pleaded the case to keep Chaturvedi when it looked like he would be sacked. Quoting sources from the Prime Minister's Office, the Middle East Times claimed that "The Congress Party was worried that if Chaturvedi was sacked it would be a sign of admitting that they had made a mistake."
Criticism has focused on Narayanan himself, who despite being a respected figure within India for his record with the domestic spy agency, the Intelligence Bureau
(IB), he has had to take criticism for sanctioning Chaturvedi's appointment and continuing in persisting with him.
, the capital city of Rajasthan
state. Over 60 people were killed and some 200 injured. It has now transpired that a Western intelligence agency had obtained information toward the end of April pointing to the potential of terrorist attacks in a number of Indian cities which included Mumbai
(Bombay), Hyderabad, Kolkata
(Calcutta) and notably Jaipur. The information was passed to Chaturvedi, however, the R&AW chief had reduced his work commitments due to his bad health and was seen more often at the Delhi golf club than his office. As a result he left the intelligence assessment to be analyzed by Sanjiv Tripathi. It is alleged that Tripathi either ignored the intelligence assessment or did not view it to be important enough to act upon and the information was not shared with any of India's other intelligence or police agencies.
it was reported that following his retirement, Chaturvedi had a diplomatic passport issued for himself and his wife and was able to utilize Government of India
funds for their personal international trips. According to Outlook Magazine, "Only grade ‘A’ ambassadors—usually IFS (Indian Foreign Service) officers posted in key countries like the UK and US—are allowed to hold diplomatic passports after retirement. The majority, who do not fit that bill, hold passports issued to ordinary citizens. In fact, all former R&AW chiefs Outlook spoke to confirmed they had surrendered their diplomatic passports the day they retired. And their spouses weren’t entitled to diplomatic passports even while they were in service."
Research and Analysis Wing
The Research and Analysis Wing is India's external intelligence agency. It was formed in September 1968 after the poor performance of the Intelligence Bureau in the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and the India-Pakistani war of 1965 convinced the then government of India that a specialized, independent...
(R&AW) from 1 February 2007 to 31 January 2009. Chaturvedi succeeded P.K.H. Tharakan, a 1968 batch officer of the IPS Kerala cadre who retired on 31 January 2007.
Chaturvedi was part of the Indian Police Service
Indian Police Service
The Indian Police Service , simply known as Indian Police or IPS, is one of the three All India Services of the Government of India...
(IPS) as a 1970 batch officer from the Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....
cadre before joining R&AW's own service cadre the Research and Analysis Service (RAS). Chaturvedi, who was an analyst on Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, had also served in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
besides a stint in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
.
The Selection Controversy
Ashok Chaturvedi is related to B.K. Chaturvedi, who was at one time a highly influential bureaucrat. At the time of Ashok Chaturvedi's selection as head of R&AW, B.K. Chaturvedi was cabinet secretaryCabinet Secretary
A Cabinet Secretary is almost always a senior official who provides services and advice to a Cabinet of Ministers. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powers, including general responsibility for the entire civil service...
. During his three-year tenure as cabinet secretary, B.K. Chaturvedi became an alternative center of power in New Delhi
New Delhi
New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...
and had wrestled away the authority of the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).
India's external intelligence agency operates on the basis of seniority and time spent in the organization, which helped Ashok Chaturvedi get into a position to be considered as the head of R&AW. He had previously been overlooked for promotion within R&AW on two separate occasions and it is believed that several government secretaries expressed their strong reservation in restoring his seniority. However, B.K. Chaturvedi dismissed their opinions and controversially declined to excuse himself from the committee which promoted and re-graded his relative in the organization.
At the start of 2007, there had been a delay in officially announcing the new head of R&AW because of a torrent of protests from the country's vast intelligence community that Ashok Chaturvedi could be chosen over perceivably more experienced individuals. There were serious concerns that he would damage India's national strategic interests. It is also believed that India's National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (India)
The National Security Advisor of India is a member of the National Security Council , and the primary advisor to the Prime Minister, the Indian Cabinet and the NSC on internal and international security issues.-Overview:...
, Mayankote Kelath Narayanan
Mayankote Kelath Narayanan
Mayankote Kelath Narayanan , commonly referred to as M. K. Narayanan, is the current Governor of Indian state West Bengal and was the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India until January 2010. He was appointed to this post on January 25, 2005, three weeks after the previous NSA,...
, wanted the outgoing R&AW chief, P.K.H. Tharakan, to object to Ashok Chaturvedi's promotion as head of the intelligence agency. As a result an announcement on the new head of R&AW was held back as the Government wanted the row settled first.
However, Ashok Chaturvedi formally replaced Tharakan on 1 February 2007. Once again, B.K. Chaturvedi had attended the promotions panel that decided the head of R&AW and played a pivotal role in helping his relative take charge of the organization. Ashok Chaturvedi's appointment resulted in senior members of R&AW leaving the agency in apparent protest. Narayanan eventually endorsed Ashok Chaturvedi's appointment despite serious misgivings.
Personality Cult & Protégés
Since Chaturvedi took over as the head of R&AW, the agency suffered a string of scandals and intelligence failures which appear to have damaged its reputation. While in a meeting abroad he left classified documents in a non-secure location. Chaturvedi has also been described as being part of the intelligence clique in India who had developed close relations with the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and the communist bloc during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. There is now a perception that Chaturvedi's intent was to re-establish close relations with Russia's external Intelligence agency the Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki (SVR) or the Foreign Intelligence Service.
The Khaleej Times
Khaleej Times
The Khaleej Times is a daily English language newspaper published in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Traditionally perceived as the second most popular newspaper in the UAE, Khaleej Times has struggled to keep up its circulation and entered 2011 with a print run of just under 40,000 copies...
in an extensive investigative article, stated that Chaturvedi had used his position to systematically downgrade and sideline all his perceived rivals within the organisation, replacing them with people loyal to himself, creating a tremendous amount of bitterness and resentment and a culture of fear. It also added that Chaturvedi has been compared to the former director of the FBI, J Edgar Hoover, with some accusing him of having "developed a personality cult around himself, portraying the impression that he is untouchable".
Chaturvedi's protégé had been identified as Sanjeev Tripathi
Sanjeev Tripathi
Sanjeev Tripathi is the current director of Research and Analysis Wing. He is a 1973 Uttar Pradesh batch IPS officer, who later shifted to R&AW Allied Service cadre....
, who was being groomed to take over in 2009. He was personally selected by Chaturvedi to assess sensitive intelligence dossiers. However, according to the Khaleej Times, Tripathi is an administrator with no prior experience as an intelligence analyst. The Indian intelligence community has dubbed Chaturvedi and Tripathi "Dumb and Dumber" a reference to the Jim Carey film. However Tripathi did not succeed Chaturvedi and the post of R&AW chief went to K.C.Verma. Sanjeev Tripathi later became the R&AW chief on 30 December 2010 after Verma voluntarily retired the day Tripathi was to be superannuated.
Chaturvedi has also been at loggerheads with several members of the Congress-led coalition, including the National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (India)
The National Security Advisor of India is a member of the National Security Council , and the primary advisor to the Prime Minister, the Indian Cabinet and the NSC on internal and international security issues.-Overview:...
MK Narayanan
Mayankote Kelath Narayanan
Mayankote Kelath Narayanan , commonly referred to as M. K. Narayanan, is the current Governor of Indian state West Bengal and was the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India until January 2010. He was appointed to this post on January 25, 2005, three weeks after the previous NSA,...
. At a conference in December 2007 in Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...
, Narayanan warned about the threat of international terrorism and its intention to hit at economic targets in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and South Asia
South Asia
South Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries to the west and the east...
. However, Chaturvedi and Tripathi took a completely opposite view and decided to downgrade R&AW's focus on the threat of terrorism.
The V.K. Singh Book Dispute
Controversy and media speculation about his future has also continued to follow Chaturvedi's career with his failed attempts to ban the publication and sale of the book, India's External Intelligence: Secrets of Research and Analysis Wing R&AW, written by Major General V.K. Singh, formerly a colleague and Joint Secretary in R&AW. In the book, V.K. Singh made a number of claims about R&AW including petulant conduct from a senior officer within the organization who went on unauthorised leave for eight months after being overlooked for promotion and who was tagged with malfeasance and ineptitude. The book was published and distributed both in India and abroad in June 2007 and the matter had largely been forgotten.However, Chaturvedi curiously resurrected the issue months later when V.K. Singh's home was raided on 21 September 2007 by officials from the Central Bureau of Investigation
Central Bureau of Investigation
The Central Bureau of Investigation is a government agency of India that serves as a criminal investigation body, national security agency and intelligence agency. It was established on 1 April 1963 and evolved from the Special Police Establishment founded in 1941...
(CBI). A case was registered against V.K. Singh under the Official Secrets Act of India (OSA). The following day the offices of the publishers of the book, Manas Publications, were also raided.
Addressing a media conference where former intelligence officials were present to support him, V.K. Singh spectacularly revealed that the R&AW officer who went on an eight month leave of absence without permission was in fact Ashok Chaturvedi.
Singh said the R&AW chief's absence from work was "an act of gross indiscipline…can he (Chaturvedi) bring discipline to the organization if he does not attend office for eight months?"
The investigative magazine, Outlook
Outlook (magazine)
Outlook is one of India's four top-selling English weekly newsmagazines. Like many other Indian magazines, it is reluctant to reveal its circulation, but the 2007 National Readership Survey suggested 1.5 million copies...
, stated that Chaturvedi appeared to have a personal vendetta against V.K. Singh. They also claimed that sources from the CBI had confirmed to them that the R&AW officer, mentioned in VK Singh's book, who went on unofficial leave for eight months was indeed Chaturvedi.
The raid on V.K. Singh's house had also been embarrassing for Chaturvedi as initially the wrong address, belonging to another retired R&AW official, was raided in East Delhi instead of the author's house in Gurgaon
Gurgaon
Gurgaon is the second largest city in the Indian state of Haryana. Gurgaon is the industrial and financial center of Haryana. It is located 30 km south of national capital New Delhi, about 10 kilometers from Dwarka Sub City and 268 km south of Chandigarh, the state capital...
, . It took the officials another three hours before they finally reached the correct residence. Ironically, the whole controversy has embarrassed the Indian government and revived the sales of Singh's book. In fact, the publishers ordered another print run of 3,000 copies because of the high demand. The whole incident has also created a new debate over the freedom of expression in India and the level of public accountability of the countries' intelligence agencies. Legal experts also believe it would be a futile attempt to charge V.K. Singh under the Official Secrets Act, particularly as other former intelligence officials have released books that have been deemed to be more damaging in terms of disclosing R&AW's secrets, but no action was ever taken against them.
Chaturvedi had sanctioned publication of a book written by Shankaran Nair, a former head of R&AW, in which the Gandhi family, particularly former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhara was an Indian politician who served as the third Prime Minister of India for three consecutive terms and a fourth term . She was assassinated by Sikh extremists...
, is reported to have been behind a number of controversial deals involving bribery. It has been questioned as to why Chaturvedi tried to gag V.K. Singh yet allowed Nair's book to be published without any scrutiny. This has brought Chaturvedi into a direct confrontation with the Nehru-Gandhi Family
Nehru-Gandhi family
The Nehru–Gandhi family or Nehru - Feroze Gandhi family is an Indian political family which has been dominant in the Indian National Congress for most of India's history since independence...
.
After the V.K. Singh book dispute, Chaturvedi issued a directive wanting all R&AW's current employees to sign a declaration that they would not write about their careers after they leave the agency. Opinion, however, is divided on the issue as many say it's unfair to censor such voices. The declaration wants to bar officers from writing about the agency even after the two-year cooling off period post-retirement. The new ruling would mean that officers would have to take permission to write and even then it cannot be published without prior clearance from the agency. The declaration says for any violation the officer will be held liable for action, such as no pension, to charges under the Official Secrets Act.
The Colombo Spy Scandal
In October 2007 another highly damaging controversy erupted for Chaturvedi when it transpired R&AW was forced to recall one of its officers who was stationed at the Indian High Commission in ColomboColombo
Colombo is the largest city of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, the capital of Sri Lanka. Colombo is often referred to as the capital of the country, since Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte is a satellite city of Colombo...
, Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
. Ravi Nair, who held the rank of Joint Secretary within R&AW, was sent back to New Delhi when it transpired that he had developed irregular relations with a Chinese woman. Officials posted at the Indian High Commission, sent reports about Nair to their respective departments paving the way for his recall. What was of particular concern, was that Nair had started the relationship with the same woman during a previous posting to the Indian Consulate in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. He apparently continued to maintain ties with her after he was posted to Colombo in 2006.
Infighting within R&AW also may have led to the Nair's recall from Sri Lanka. In fact, Nair's activities had aroused suspicion prior to his posting in Colombo, whilst at the agency's Chennai
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
office when it was alleged he was involved in another extramarital affair. Following reports from the Chennai office, then head of R&AW P.K.H. Tharakan, directed his second-in-command at the time and the current R&AW chief Ashok Chaturvedi to conduct an inquiry and take suitable steps. However, Chaturvedi did not take any action and conversely Nair's name was put forward for the Colombo posting, considered one of R&AW's most sensitive stations. Outlook Magazine stated that had Chaturvedi conducted an inquiry and taken action at Tharakan's behest, Nair would never have been considered for the posting to Sri Lanka and R&AW could have saved itself the embarrassment Nair has caused.
The Colombo and Chennai scandals were apparently not Nair's first transgression. At various other foreign postings and travels, several allegations were filed against him in internal R&AW reports by senior intelligence officers. Prior to his posting in Sri Lanka, Nair had previously been stationed to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
but despite all the controversy surrounding him, Nair continued to receive support from Chaturvedi and another former head of R&AW, Shankaran Nair. Instead of being reprimanded by Chaturvedi, Nair has been allowed to carry on with his duties.
The Indian Intelligence Failure
In December 2007, it was revealed that there had been a massive intelligence failure inside R&AW. It was in relation to the state of emergencyState of emergency
A state of emergency is a governmental declaration that may suspend some normal functions of the executive, legislative and judicial powers, alert citizens to change their normal behaviours, or order government agencies to implement emergency preparedness plans. It can also be used as a rationale...
declared by the President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...
. Apparently, just days before Musharraf installed emergency rule, Chaturvedi had advised the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, that the situation in Pakistan was stable and that there was no chance that Musharraf would declare martial law.
Not anticipating any major change in Pakistan, Chaturvedi did not feel the need to prepare for any unpredictable change in circumstances. On 3 November 2007, Musharraf suspended the constitution
Constitution of Pakistan
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the supreme law of Pakistan. Known as the Constitution of 1973, it was drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and, following additions by the opposition parties, was approved by the legislative assembly on April 10, 1973...
and declared a state of emergency
2007 Pakistani state of emergency
A state of emergency was declared by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007, and lasted until December 15, 2007,during which time the constitution of Pakistan was suspended....
. New Delhi was caught completely off guard and the Indian prime minister apparently "was livid."
The Nepal Exposure
Unlike his predecessors who specialised in PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
or China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, Chaturvedi is the first head of India's Intelligence agency whose area of expertise is Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. However, in December 2007 the R&AW Chief faced another embarrassing scandal when the 'Nepal Weekly' magazine revealed that R&AW was trying to interfere in the internal political dynamics of Nepal. The magazine also revealed the names of various R&AW agents working at the Indian embassy in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu which included Suresh Dhundiya, R&AW's station chief in Kathmandu, and his deputies Alok Tiwari posted as First Secretary (Education) and K. V. Johri, a counsellor. It was also publicized that Dhundiya was being replaced as station chief by Alok Joshi. This revelation resulted in Joshi being exposed before he even assumed his new position thus compromising R&AW's intelligence apparatus in Nepal. To make matters worse, Nepalese newspapers were also able to find out the detailed travel plans of Chaturvedi's visit to Nepal in December 2007, including the airline he flew on and which hotel he stayed in.
Chaturvedi forced the interim government of Girija Prasad Koirala to award a contract to an Indian firm for a hydropower project. It has also been alleged that Chaturvedi may have financially benefited personally from the deal. Questions have been raised in India as to why the head of an Indian intelligence agency was promoting a commercial company in Nepal.
The timing of these events coincided with worsening relations between India and Nepal. In a snub to India, Nepal's Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan
Sahana Pradhan
Sahana Pradhan is a Nepalese politician. She hails from a Newar family in Kathmandu. She resigned as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nepal on April 16, 2008....
requested a high level Chinese delegation visiting Kathmandu to extend the Tibet rail into Nepal. The request carries significance against the backdrop of Nepal's warning to India not to go ahead with a proposed highway along the India-Nepal border.
The Telegraph Weekly of Nepal commented that "With R&AW facing continuous debacle in its Nepal affairs, it is highly likely that the R&AW machinery will come in a heavy way in order to regain its lost ground in Nepal. Chaturvedi is being told to pack up by the New Delhi set-up, it is talked".
Diplomatic Faux Pas
In a number of important meetings, Chaturvedi did not appear to know who he was actually meeting. On one particular occasion, Timothy J. KeatingTimothy J. Keating
Timothy J. Keating, is a retired United States Navy admiral. During his career he served as commander of Carrier Group Five, the U.S. 5th Fleet, the U.S. Northern Command and NORAD, and U.S. Pacific Command. He retired in 2009 after over 38 years of service. He was the first Navy officer to head...
, the commander of the United States Pacific Command
United States Pacific Command
The United States Pacific Command is a Unified Combatant Command of the United States armed forces responsible for the Pacific Ocean area. It is led by the Commander, Pacific Command , who is the supreme military authority for the various branches of the Armed Forces of the United States serving...
made an official trip to India in August 2007 and met a number of senior Indian defense and intelligence chiefs including Chaturvedi. However, Chaturvedi did not know who Keating was, and kept referring to him as John Negroponte
John Negroponte
John Dimitri Negroponte is an American diplomat. He is currently a research fellow and lecturer in international affairs at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs...
, the U.S. deputy Secretary of State. In another episode, before leaving on a trip to China in January, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked Chaturvedi for a briefing about his perspectives of the current senior leadership in China. Instead of delegating the task to the China section within R&AW, Chaturvedi attempted to put together his own report which talked about Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...
and Zhu Rongji
Zhu Rongji
Zhū Róngjī is a prominent Chinese politician who served as the Mayor and Party chief in Shanghai between 1987 and 1991, before serving as Vice-Premier and then the fifth Premier of the People's Republic of China from March 1998 to March 2003.A tough administrator, his time in office saw the...
, the former president and premier respectively, both of whom retired in 2003.
Government Sanctions Dismissal
Because of the repeated instances of incompetence and scandals during Chaturvedi's tenure and the continuing decline of the intelligence agency, it had been reported by the Indian and foreign press that the R&AW chief would be removed from his post, which has never happened before.It was reported that several Western intelligence agencies were reluctant to share classified information with R&AW's top officials, because of Chaturvedi. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior officials of his secretariat were unhappy with him as a result.
The Middle East Times revealed that at a closed-door meeting at the start of 2008 which all of India's intelligence and military chiefs were present, Chaturvedi was asked for his opinion on the upcoming security challenges the country faced. The R&AW chief presented his views while chewing tobacco and sounding incoherent. Narayanan asked him to clean out his mouth. But "Embarrassment turned to humiliation when Chaturvedi resumed his analysis only to be told by Narayanan that he was making more sense when the tobacco was in his mouth."
The pressure to sack him on the grounds of gross incompetence had reached Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who supported by senior leaders in the ruling Congress Party, gave his approval to quietly remove Chaturvedi.
Chaturvedi made a direct personal appeal to Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi...
to save his job, claiming that he was not in good health and that he should be allowed to serve out the remainder of his service period. Gandhi, passed the responsibility for the decision to Narayanan with her recommendation for a review. Narayanan deferred making any decision thus reprieving Chaturvedi. G.S. Bajpai, a former head of R&AW and Tripathi's father-in law, also intervened and pleaded the case to keep Chaturvedi when it looked like he would be sacked. Quoting sources from the Prime Minister's Office, the Middle East Times claimed that "The Congress Party was worried that if Chaturvedi was sacked it would be a sign of admitting that they had made a mistake."
Criticism has focused on Narayanan himself, who despite being a respected figure within India for his record with the domestic spy agency, the Intelligence Bureau
Intelligence Bureau (India)
The Intelligence Bureau also known as IB is India's internal intelligence agency and reputedly the world's oldest intelligence agency. It was recast as the Central Intelligence Bureau in 1947 under the Ministry of Home Affairs...
(IB), he has had to take criticism for sanctioning Chaturvedi's appointment and continuing in persisting with him.
Jaipur Terrorist Attack
On 13 May 2008, nine synchronized bomb blasts targeted JaipurJaipur
Jaipur , also popularly known as the Pink City, is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Founded on 18 November 1727 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the ruler of Amber, the city today has a population of more than 3.1 million....
, the capital city of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
state. Over 60 people were killed and some 200 injured. It has now transpired that a Western intelligence agency had obtained information toward the end of April pointing to the potential of terrorist attacks in a number of Indian cities which included Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
(Bombay), Hyderabad, Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
(Calcutta) and notably Jaipur. The information was passed to Chaturvedi, however, the R&AW chief had reduced his work commitments due to his bad health and was seen more often at the Delhi golf club than his office. As a result he left the intelligence assessment to be analyzed by Sanjiv Tripathi. It is alleged that Tripathi either ignored the intelligence assessment or did not view it to be important enough to act upon and the information was not shared with any of India's other intelligence or police agencies.
Unsanctioned Post-Retirement Perks
In the 8 February 2010 edition of Outlook MagazineOutlook (magazine)
Outlook is one of India's four top-selling English weekly newsmagazines. Like many other Indian magazines, it is reluctant to reveal its circulation, but the 2007 National Readership Survey suggested 1.5 million copies...
it was reported that following his retirement, Chaturvedi had a diplomatic passport issued for himself and his wife and was able to utilize Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
funds for their personal international trips. According to Outlook Magazine, "Only grade ‘A’ ambassadors—usually IFS (Indian Foreign Service) officers posted in key countries like the UK and US—are allowed to hold diplomatic passports after retirement. The majority, who do not fit that bill, hold passports issued to ordinary citizens. In fact, all former R&AW chiefs Outlook spoke to confirmed they had surrendered their diplomatic passports the day they retired. And their spouses weren’t entitled to diplomatic passports even while they were in service."