SPY STORY: Top RAW officer fled via Nepal on US passport

[Dover]

Joint Secy Rabinder Singh sacked, preliminary probe shows he had bank accounts in Singapore, Brunei and US where wife, family are

SHISHIR GUPTA & PRANAB DHAL SAMANTA

NEW DELHI, JUNE 5: The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the country’s premier external intelligence agency, has now discovered that its missing Joint Secretary Rabinder Singh could have fled the country via Nepal on a United States passport.

The agency has obtained a photocopy of the passport. A US Embassy official, when contacted by The Sunday Express here today, said: ‘‘We don’t comment on such matters.’’

But on the recommendation of the government’s Committee of Advisors, which includes the Home Secretary and the Law Secretary, Singh has been dismissed from service for ‘‘jeopardising the nation’s security.’’

More immediately, though, RAW is scrambling to assess how much damage Singh has caused.When The Indian Express first reported his disappearance on May 27, the agency had tried to suggest that he was not handling sensitive information. But a senior official now admits: ‘‘The fact that a third country issued a passport to help Singh flee shows how important he was.’’

The suspicion, therefore, is that Singh’s handlers could be based in the US, reinforced by the fact that his wife and family live there....cont'd >

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=48420

[Just Me]

1. Hey, Dover. What is your take on this development? n/t

[Dover]

2. RAW - Research and Analysis Wing

I really don't know. I've been trying to find more info on Rabinder Singh and this organization. Maybe someone from India can shed some light. Here's what I found out about RAW -

Research and Analysis Wing

The Research and Analysis Wing is India's foreign intelligence agency. RAW has become an effective instrument of Indian national power, and has assumed a significant role in carrying out India's domestic and foreign policies. RAW has engaged in espionage against Pakistan and other neighboring countries. It has enjoyed the backing of successive Indian governments in these efforts. Working directly under the Prime Minister, the structure and operations of the Research & Analysis Wing are kept secret from Parliament.

Founded in 1968, RAW focused largely on Pakistan. Its formation was initially motivated by reports of Pakistan supplying weapons to Sikh militants, and providing shelter and training to guerrillas in Pakistan.

Numerous missions were assigned to RAW upon its creation. These included monitoring political and military developments in neighboring countries that affects Indian national security. Consequently, considerable attention is paid by RAW to Pakistan and China, countries that are traditional rivals of India.

RAW has evolved from its origins as a part of the Intelligence Bureau to develop into India's predominant intelligence organization. In 1968, RAW had 250 agents and a budget of Rs. 2 crore. This has expanded to the present day total of an estimated eight to ten thousand agents and a budget that experts place at Rs. 1500 crore, alternately estimated at $145 million.

Pakistan has accused the Research and Analysis Wing of sponsoring sabotage in Punjab, where RAW is alleged to have supported the Seraiki movement, providing financial support to promote its activities in Pakistan and organizing an International Seraiki Conference in Delhi in November-December 1993. RAW has an extensive network of agents and anti-government elements within Pakistan, including dissident elements from various sectarian and ethnic groups of Sindh and Punjab. Published reports in Pakistan allege that as many as 35,000 RAW agents entered Pakistan between 1983-93, with 12,000 working in Sindh, 10,000 in Punjab, 8,000 in North West Frontier Province and 5000 in Balochistan....>>

http://www.fas.org/irp/world/india/raw/


Pakistan and others have blamed RAW spies for "terrorism" -

http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/world/india/raw.htm

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Used to have close ties with MI6, but I don't know about now

Interesting that this happens right after the US DCI's announcement this week.
Maybe the other side don't like this guy too much, and he had to be brought in.

Also interesting that he boogied from Singapore in the middle of a highly publisied meeting on a US passport.

[Dover]

4. India considers radical review of US ties

http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DF14Df02.html

India considers radical review of US ties

By Sultan Shahin NEW DELHI

Determined and coercive US diplomacy has helped reduce somewhat the possibility of India and Pakistan blowing each other up. But in the process the United States has provoked a great deal of disappointment and anger in India, the one ally in South Asia it could count on for unquestioning support, perhaps even more than from its longtime European allies. The result is a growing call in Indian pro-establishment circles for a radical reassessment of the country's ties with the US and, as Washington moves inevitably toward mediating the Kashmir dispute, these calls are going to grow even more strident.

[nolabels]

5. Or for a wider point of view from people probably less vested

http://www.indianexpress.com/messages.php?content_id=48053#35798