Intelligence & National Security Discussion

AmitR · Post by **AmitR** » 25 Apr 2009 20:58

ChandraS wrote:IK Gujral rolled up our covert action capabilities in Pakistan around 96-97 when he was the PM as part of some Confidence Building Measures (I think it was a unilateral action from our side). We are still paying for it and will continue to pay for some more time till it gets reestablished. Morarji Desai was the PM who initially wanted the RAW shut down (due to a misplaced belief of it being the Congress's paw) but on becoming the PM and talking with the then chief, Shri RN Kao, realised the truth. Of course, that didn't stop him from reducing it's headcount to nearly half, as pointed out by Shankaran Nair, the head after Kao. So yeah, both did do irreparable damage to our abilities to prosecute against external threats in the intelligence world.

Then why do Pakistanis keep on complaining about an invisible foreign hand in every incident that happens in their country? Anyways the condition that Pakis are right now how much more can we really add. It is a beggar state which for all purpose has failed.

Tilak · Post by **Tilak** » 25 Apr 2009 21:58

ChandraS wrote:IK Gujral rolled up our covert action capabilities in Pakistan around 96-97 when he was the PM as part of some Confidence Building Measures (I think it was a unilateral action from our side). We are still paying for it and will continue to pay for some more time till it gets reestablished. Morarji Desai was the PM who initially wanted the RAW shut down (due to a misplaced belief of it being the Congress's paw) but on becoming the PM and talking with the then chief, Shri RN Kao, realised the truth. Of course, that didn't stop him from reducing it's headcount to nearly half, as pointed out by Shankaran Nair, the head after Kao. So yeah, both did do irreparable damage to our abilities to prosecute against external threats in the intelligence world.

"If I.K. Gujral can become prime minister without support of his own MPs, then Pawar can do anything. We support him,"

SP general secretary Amar Singh said adding his party would extend support to Pawar as prime ministerial candidate.

Source : SP to back Sharad Pawar as PM

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 27 Apr 2009 03:47

India is loosing over 1/4 of a Trillion $ a year to illegal out flow of money

Nikhil T · Post by **Nikhil T** » 27 Apr 2009 09:35

^^Lets stick the discussion to Intelligence and National Security. Money outflows is not a security issue.

Vijay Hirani · Post by **Vijay Hirani** » 27 Apr 2009 16:35

guys, I want views form the BR Gurus on the issue of the Taliban rise on Pakistan,

Although I doubt that the Pakistani army will ever give up control of Pakistan to the Taliban, I think they will rather commit genocide considering that they see Pakistan as their baby.

From the little knowledge I have of Indian History, I see that when ever we have done economically well, inferior barbarian have come and looted us and caused incredible damage, mainly because we not been militarily prepared.

My concern is that in 1 to 2 decades from now, Pakistan will have 20 to 30 million fighting man considering the speed at which madrasas are churning them out.

Should India be considering having a territorial army made of civilians who train for 1 month every two years. Wars have been comig from the pakistan side for 1000s of years and they will come again. I feel that at least one out of 20 civilians should be exposed to military training as back up if India need to be fully prepared.

Your views !!

I have many Swedish / German friends though civilians, are very aware of military warfare and are knowledgable in signalling, military maintenance, weapons usage, military medicine and so on. Basically if the nation has to fight as one they will be prepared.

Prabu · Post by **Prabu** » 27 Apr 2009 16:42

One information from a paki chaiwalah (!), whose relative is a serving officer paki army.
Take it for what it is worth.

1) The so called drone attacks made by USA is actually done by paki's. They have improved their Drone technology and all drones are paki's !?

(Is it so???)

2) The paki misiles/bombs are tested in china with supervision of paki army.
(we know this, but this is just an acknowledgement !)

Dilbu · Post by **Dilbu** » 27 Apr 2009 16:58

Puki drone technology aka flying pigs. I hope they are not infected by swine flu.

sum · Post by **sum** » 27 Apr 2009 21:28

Please take all Porki related discussions to either the BENIS or TSP threads...

KiranM · Post by **KiranM** » 27 Apr 2009 21:37

^^^ For the folks who may be skeptical about Pakistan's UAV technology, let us not end up underestimating them. UAV/ UCAV capabilities kind of fits into their scheme of shadow warfare against India. So I wouldnt be surprised if they really work towards advanced tech in that front. The same holds good if you look at them building their submarine capability.

Sorry for the OT post. But felt necessary to make this point.

Regards,
Kiran

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 29 Apr 2009 01:27

Google Book linked by paul

Intelligence and Imperial Defence

A gold mine on SB and IB.

svinayak · Post by **svinayak** » 29 Apr 2009 01:53

ramana wrote:Google Book linked by paul

Intelligence and Imperial Defence

A gold mine on SB and IB.

One of my theory is that entire British policy towards India, middle east from 1900 was based on the British intelligence operations.
British foreign policy towards India and middle east after 1947 was also based on the British intelligence operations which they had implanted inside India.

They had informants right from PMO to other departments several decades after independence. Till about 1997 they had informants whom they had cultivated for several generations

This is an account of the British intelligence operations based in both India and London, which defended the Indian Empire against subversion during the first two decades of the 20th century. It is concerned with the threat to the British Raj posed by the Indian revolutionary movement, the resulting development of the imperial intelligence service and the role it played in World War I.

More details
Intelligence and imperial defence: British intelligence and the defence of the Indian Empire, 1904-1924
By Richard James Popplewell
Edition: illustrated
Published by Routledge, 1995
ISBN 071464580X, 9780714645803
354 pages

vsudhir · Post by **vsudhir** » 01 May 2009 02:41

Reveal names of moles in 1971 spy case: CIC

The Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Ministry of External Affairs to reveal the names of alleged moles in Indira Gandhi's cabinet during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

The ruling came on an RTI application filed by a freelance journalist Anuj Dhar who wanted details regarding the "leak" of information relating to national security by alleged CIA agents during the war.

Dhar, the author of the book, 'CIA's Eye on South Asia', which carries details of the case, sought the "names and other details about the people who were in touch with the CIA and leaked details of the proceedings of the Congress Working Committee."

The Ministry had earlier refused to disclose any material saying, "The request for information or documents is based on reports of foreign governments, newspapers and books which the Government of India does not take cognizance as those are unsubstantiated reports.

VinodTK · Post by **VinodTK** » 05 May 2009 05:25

An Indian spy in the sky

Spying on next-door neighbours

neerajb · Post by **neerajb** » 05 May 2009 14:27

VinodTK wrote:India is loosing over 1/4 of a Trillion $ a year to illegal out flow of money

1 trillion has 1000 billions.

Cheers....

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 05 May 2009 20:13

Okay, here's the deal on RISAT provided by IOL:

Its built by Israel, operated by Yindu's but it will also remain in touch with Israeli's. The images of Iranian territory will be given to Isra-eel which will complement their own sats. So understand this is Yindu-Yahudi space co-operation is not just industrial but also operational. Of course the main use is to monitor Puki's. India now has RISAT 2, CARTOSAT 2 and 2A. Only two countries in Asia have the similar satellites: Japan IGS-4A and China Jian Bing 5.

skher · Post by **skher** » 08 May 2009 03:07

Posted in full:

Heads roll in CRPF job scam

CBI's nationwide raids on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) premises and subsequent arrests of an IG and a DIG yesterday have exposed a nexus of “middlemen and top officials” in carrying out illegal recruitment of security personnel in the country.

Investigations into the scam have so far revealed that candidates who did not meet the prescribed physical standards and other criteria were recruited in the force in connivance with certain top-ranking officers, who allegedly received illegal gratification.

“The IG and DIG have confessed that they were approached by touts for selecting candidates, who were willing to pay the bribes. In most cases, money was taken at every stage of the selection process, including physical tests, written and interviews,” the officials said. In some cases, however, the money was returned to the candidates who could not clear the tests.

Yesterday, after carrying out the raids, the CBI arrested six persons, including CRPF IG (Bihar sector) Pushkar Singh, DIG (Muzzafarpur Group Centre) T.L. Baxla and commandants Yadvendra Singh and B.S. Sidhu. The agency also nabbed kingpin Mukesh Kumar and his wife Swati Bhardwaj for their alleged involvement.

While the IG was arrested in Patna, DIG Baxla in Ranchi (Jharkhand), outgoing commandant (Jamshedpur) Yadvendra Singh in Yamunanagar (Haryana) and commandant (Daltenganj) Sidhu in New Delhi. Sidhu was arrested by a CBI team in Delhi while he was in the process of receiving money from one of the touts.

The CBI is also investigating whether there was any role of other top CRPF officers in this scam. CBI officials told HT that IG Pushkar Singh – one of the frontrunners to be promoted in the rank of the Additional Director General — was allegedly involved in the 2007 CRPF recruitment scam in Bihar as well.

CBI teams conducted raids on the offices and houses of several senior CRPF officers in Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana and UT Chandigarh, and seized incriminating documents, property papers and cash worth Rs 25 lakh. The agency had also recovered Rs 53 lakh cash from the premises of a tout allegedly linked to the IG.

Deleted gratitous remark. ramana

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 09 May 2009 00:22

pgkher that uncalled for. Please edit.

Meanwhile circa 2003
MKN on Internal security and Intelligence setup

Looks like he did nothing when he became NSA for India.

Prabu · Post by **Prabu** » 13 May 2009 16:17

Prabu wrote:One information from a paki chaiwalah (!), whose relative is a serving officer paki army.
Take it for what it is worth.

1) The so called drone attacks made by USA is actually done by paki's. They have improved their Drone technology and all drones are paki's !?
(Is it so???)

2) The paki misiles/bombs are tested in china with supervision of paki army.
(we know this, but this is just an acknowledgement !)

It seems like my chai wall's discosure is true !

US co-opts Pak for Predator strikes

Prem Kumar · Post by **Prem Kumar** » 13 May 2009 22:36

Pentagon official charged for selling secrets to a Chinese agent

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pent ... 526239.cms

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 14 May 2009 05:08

HC declines to hear PIL against 19 RAW officials

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to hear a PIL seeking action against 19 senior officials of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency, for allegedly leaking confidential information which was subsequently passed on to the United States.

The Court refused to pass any order after the petitioner R K Yadav, an ex-employee of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), failed to produce any evidence to substantiate his allegations against the senior officials.

"Your complete petition is nothing but hearsay. You have no authenticity and without any evidence you are asking us to initiate action against the officers," a two-member Bench headed by Chief Justice A P Shah said.

Yadav pleaded in his petition that 20 RAW employees were involved in leaking the information but CBI filed a complaint only against Ravinder Singh, a senior officer of the RAW, who was declared as proclaimed offender(PO) by a court here.

The Court, however, was not satisfied with his contention and said "if you have prima-facie evidence against the officers, we will issue notice or else we can ask them (Centre) to look into the matter."

Giving a list of 19 senior RAW officers, Yadav in his petition alleged five senior officers had helped Singh to flee from the country and rest had supplied classified information to him, who in turn had allegedly passed on the confidential documents to the United States.

shyamd · Post by **shyamd** » 15 May 2009 21:22

FinMin backs Sebi demand to access phone call transcripts

Don't award BSNL deal to Huawei: IB, MoD

NEW DELHI: The intelligence bureau and defence ministry has said that stateowned BSNL should not award telecom equipment contracts to Chinese equipment majors Huawei and ZTE in the interest of national security. Both IB and the defence ministry’s reactions are in the wake of BSNL’s move to shortlist Huawei, along with Swedish equipment major Ericsson, for its mega 93-million-line GSM expansion project worth around Rs 30,000 crore, in what is the single-largest telecom contract in the world. Ericsson was short-listed as the lowest bidder for north and east zones while Huawei was selected for west, east and south zones.

The views of IB and the defence ministry were conveyed to BSNL at a meeting on April 9. During the meet, both BSNL and the Department of Telecom (DoT) suggested that Huawei could be awarded the contract in south India since the region did not share sensitive borders with Pakistan, China and Bangladesh. Besides, the Department of Telecom argued that Huawei was already working with BSNL in south India.

Shooting down the request, IB director said: “Considering the present security scenario in the country, even the southern region with its coastline can be considered sensitive,” while adding that “with the reference to the sensitive communication sector, distinction in terms of zones was relevant.” As per the minutes of this meeting, a copy of which is available with ET, IB added that ‘BSNL should not award contracts to Chinese companies, as these companies are known to have links with the Chinese state and security apparatus and, therefore, their presence in this critical sector has national security implications in a variety of ways’.

Defence ministry representatives, who attended the meeting, were of the view that Huawei has been set up with the assistance of the Chinese army and has a tainted past in addition to being black-listed in US,’ according to minutes of the meeting. “Similarly, the other Chinese company ZTE also does not have a good track record and, in case, these two companies should not be allowed to come in any part of the country,” the defence ministry representatives added.

The government has also set up a committee to examine the issue of participation of foreign companies, particularly with regard to security related sensitivities in BSNL tenders. According to sources, the committee members include IB coordinator & joint director R N Behura, Mr P K Mittal from the Department of Telecom, Major General P K Das and Cdr S K Gupta from the Ministry of Defence. Additionally, it will also have Research and Analysis Wing’s (RAW)cabinet secretariat joint secretary S K Gupta and a representative from the National Technical Research Organisation. The committee is expected to submit its report within the next couple of days.

This implies, this committee will take the final call on whether BSNL can award contracts to Huawei. The larger implication is that the observations of both the IB and the defence ministry is set to further delay BSNL’s expansion plans. BSNL scheduled to award the contracts for these 93 million lines by end-2008, but has been unable to place orders on account of the security related issues. Political interference coupled with a host of other factors have resulted in BSNL being unable to place any significant orders for equipment over the last two years. PSU has long run out of capacity as it has exhausted its network capacity in almost all parts of the country. With BSNL in urgent need of additional capacity, the telco has now sought that the government permit it to award the contract in the north zone to Ericsson which has emerged as the lowest bidder for this region.

The terms of reference of this committee include ‘identifying and articulating the nature of threats associated with participation of foreign companies in detail in BSNL tenders, and the control mechanisms or steps required to be imposed in award of contracts including conditionalties’, as per the minutes of the meet. The committee will also go into the threat perception on account of existing presence of foreign companies working in association with BSNL and steps required to meet the same, it added.

sum · Post by **sum** » 15 May 2009 21:54

The intelligence bureau and defence ministry has said that stateowned BSNL should not award telecom equipment contracts to Chinese equipment majors Huawei and ZTE in the interest of national security. Both IB and the defence ministry’s reactions are in the wake of BSNL’s move to shortlist Huawei, along with Swedish equipment major Ericsson, for its mega 93-million-line GSM expansion project worth around Rs 30,000 crore, in what is the single-largest telecom contract in the world. Ericsson was short-listed as the lowest bidder for north and east zones while Huawei was selected for west, east and south zones.

I would assume that the IB's warning would be adhered to if the left is out of the next govt...

abhiti · Post by **abhiti** » 15 May 2009 23:23

shyamd wrote:
NEW DELHI: The intelligence bureau and defence ministry has said that stateowned BSNL should not award telecom equipment contracts to Chinese equipment majors Huawei and ZTE in the interest of national security.

Huawei should be banned so that it doesn't sell equipment not just to BSNL but any vendor. However if MPs can be bought during trust vote how hard can it be to buy ministers or even the entire cabinet.

vishal · Post by **vishal** » 19 May 2009 19:41

Got this in an email:
(The URL in the email body is currently non-functional, try this one isntead: http://www.gfsu.edu.in/)

Dear TopCops ,

Gujarat Government has commissioned the first of its kind in India , an University for Forensic Sciences viz ' Gujarat State Forensic Sciences University ' in Gandhinagar . It is presently being housed in the ' Directorate of Forensic Sciences ' in Gandhinagar . Kindly visit the website www.gsfsu.edu. in .

The online Certificate Course on Network and Information Security of three months duration has already commenced . Application for admission to various courses have already been announced .

National & State Police Academies can look forward to signing MOUs for Training their officers and getting enrolled . Being one of the Advisors in the University would like to help State Police Forces in having interface with the University . Would be too happy to help one and all in this field .

Foreign Forensic Labs and Companies are making a beeline to get associated with the University . Director General of the University Dr JM Vyas , has already made visits to US and Mexico to have MOUs . Malaysian Police has also evinced interest in the same .

Keshav Kumar ( 86 Gujarat )
IGP

chiragAS · Post by **chiragAS** » 19 May 2009 20:16

X posting from Radar thread..
Off topic.
But didnt know where to put this.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Citi ... 501262.cms
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090508/j ... 933932.jsp
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news ... nal/1/20/1

My question to Gurus, Cant our folks make such Doppler Radars!!
if we can put SAR in space cant we make simple huge football type radars for weather monitoring.
The MET departnment is installing the first one in Mumbai. and that too at "Navy Nagar"
they selected this place because it is at a very good height and with no obstruction. Heck now they are waiting
for Chinese experts to come and commission it.
As the third link says no source code provided. can this be a threat. i mean is it possible for these guys to secretly snoop movement of ships using a weather radar.

vishal · Post by **vishal** » 20 May 2009 11:08

Reports of Indian involvement in the LTTE's defeat are starting to come in teeny-weeny bits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/world ... ka.html?hp

Excerpt: In prosecuting the war, President Rajapaksa, a lawyer and member of Parliament who was elected, narrowly, in 2005, cultivated tacit backing from India. Though India did not supply offensive weapons, it became less active in seeking to stop the fighting. Sri Lanka’s success in intercepting supply ships in the Indian Ocean is frequently attributed to Indian intelligence.

Pranay · Post by **Pranay** » 21 May 2009 19:49

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124287405244442187.html

India/Pakistan/US begin sharing some Intelligence...

Pakistan and India have begun sharing intelligence on Islamic extremists, with the prodding of the U.S., in an arrangement that represents unprecedented cooperation between the two nuclear-armed South Asian nations.

Intelligence sharing on Mumbai has led to a somewhat more frequent exchange of information, U.S. and Pakistani officials said. India and Pakistan have shared "a lot" of information with each other about the Mumbai attack, said an official at Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency. He said the CIA was initially used as a conduit but the two countries now work directly with each other, while keeping the CIA in the loop.

Trading Information
India and Pakistan are sharing intelligence on Islamic militants, with U.S. help.

India gets: Information on groups that threaten it, including the one that carried out the Mumbai attacks.
Pakistan gets: More trust from India that it is serious about taking on militants.
U.S. gets: Sharper Pakistani focus on the battle against the Taliban and al Qaeda.
The official cautioned, "We're not going to tell them everything we know and they're not going to tell us everything they know. Nobody expects that to happen. ... But we're talking about [the attack]. We weren't doing that in December."

A U.S. official said Washington isn't "under any illusions" about the difficulty of erasing decades-old suspicions between India and Pakistan, but sees some progress. U.S. officials hope that a calming of tensions can allow India's Congress Party government, strengthened by its election victory, to resume peace talks with Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir

sum · Post by **sum** » 21 May 2009 19:57

So, finally we cpaitulate to Unkils wishes?

Wonder when the "give Siachen away" talks will restart to ensure peace between the nuclear armed neighbors? Is this the amount of self respect we have wherein Pak has brazenly shielded all 26/11 accused and we share intel with them?

AmitR · Post by **AmitR** » 21 May 2009 19:58

Pranay wrote: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124287405244442187.html

India/Pakistan/US begin sharing some Intelligence...

A U.S. official said Washington isn't "under any illusions" about the difficulty of erasing decades-old suspicions between India and Pakistan, but sees some progress. U.S. officials hope that a calming of tensions can allow India's Congress Party government, strengthened by its election victory, to resume peace talks with Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir

So finally Pakistan did manage to bring Kashmir in the center stage without doing really much against the Terror outfits who are working against India. It's back to square one and a matter of few months before Mumbai attack is repeated again. India must take an independent approach against Pakistan starting with the covert operations to break up Paki land. All this drama has been so often repeated that it it becoming boring like the Ekta Kapoor serials.

Baljeet · Post by **Baljeet** » 21 May 2009 20:19

As long as America is the Most Dominant Power in world, keeps propping up pakis, Kashmir issue, terrorism issue, Sir Creek Issue will never get resolved between India-Pak.
It is in America's interest to keep the pot simmering. India will never have a leader who has some brass cajones to go on the offensive. Even if America is no longer Superpower, next power china will keep doing the same for pakis. India as a nation will be screwed till we start paying back with interest.
JMT

satya · Post by **satya** » 22 May 2009 01:00

Why are we feeling bad about having to talk about "Kashmir'' with TSP ? Babus in GoI know about current leadership and they know what's best they can do and its simple " make even talk on Kashmir a victory in itself '' . How much TSP has to bend to get GoI to talk again with TSPians on Kashmir again ,we have nothing to lose and to quote from Dilli Billi about Kashmir " Nehru family is obsessed with J&K and under no circumstances will let it go to TSP or become independent for reasons talked on forum & other reasons never talked " but let's just say we don't need to feel dismayed every time we see such news item . Haven't we been talking about ''Kashmir'' since ABV times on & off , front & back room so to pretend this is a big let down not true .

Gaurav_S · Post by **Gaurav_S** » 22 May 2009 18:22

x post from internal security thread

Communication monitoring agency soon

The agency, to be called ‘Centralised Lawful Interception and Monitoring System’, will monitor transmission through wireless and fixed lines, satellite, internet, e-mails and voice over internet protocol calls.

...

The centralised system aims to be a one-stop solution as against the current practice of running several decentralised monitoring agencies under various ministries, where each one has disparate processing systems, technology platforms and clearance levels. Currently, the defence ministry, the police department, the Intelligence Bureau and other agencies associated with national security, all have separate surveillance systems. In addition to duplication of work, they often refuse to share information with each other as they compete with each other.

abhiti · Post by **abhiti** » 22 May 2009 18:54

satya wrote:Why are we feeling bad about having to talk about "Kashmir'' with TSP ?

May be because GOI thinks "Pakistan is a victim of terror". It isn't some love of country which stops politicians from mortgaging the future of country. Congress can be a lot more dangerous when it gets too focussed on muslim vote bank than Mulayam or Laloo (because they control so much).

abhiti · Post by **abhiti** » 22 May 2009 18:57

sum wrote:So, finally we cpaitulate to Unkils wishes?

Wonder when the "give Siachen away" talks will restart to ensure peace between the nuclear armed neighbors? Is this the amount of self respect we have wherein Pak has brazenly shielded all 26/11 accused and we share intel with them?

Why does Pakistan need intelligence on acts of its own army? MMS again falling into trap by Unkil!

Baljeet · Post by **Baljeet** » 22 May 2009 19:21

abhiti
They need all the intel and evidence so when they plan next strike like that, they will not repeat the same mistake.
JMT

sum · Post by **sum** » 22 May 2009 22:42

The centralised system aims to be a one-stop solution as against the current practice of running several decentralised monitoring agencies under various ministries, where each one has disparate processing systems, technology platforms and clearance levels. Currently, the defence ministry, the police department, the Intelligence Bureau and other agencies associated with national security, all have separate surveillance systems. In addition to duplication of work, they often refuse to share information with each other as they compete with each other.

What is the NTRO doing then? Isnt the NTRO supposed to be the nodal SIGINT/COMINT agency?

Anabhaya · Post by **Anabhaya** » 23 May 2009 00:09

sum wrote:What is the NTRO doing then? Isnt the NTRO supposed to be the nodal SIGINT/COMINT agency?

My thoughts exactly.

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 23 May 2009 00:47

In the turf wars related to implementing the GoM recommendations those guys became nodal agency in te sense tey get the inputs that the others release to them. The others keep their own systems. So again the silos are retained.

Anabhaya · Post by **Anabhaya** » 23 May 2009 06:34

Okay so I go back to read the damn report. It appears to be a project to standardize/network all interception capablities.

Why else would they call it Central Lawful Interception and Monitoring System ? I hope so.

sum · Post by **sum** » 23 May 2009 10:31

Meanwhile, instead of hunting terrorists, this is what our spooks keep doing(while not taking poll surveys

) :

SIB caught monitoring own ministers
Here is an Orwellian touch to the BJP government’s ways. Muzrai and Housing Minister K N Krishnaiah Setty is under surveillance by the State Intelligence Branch. Or so he thinks.

On Friday, Setty was shocked to learn that the cloak-and-dagger unit of the State’s snoop agency were tracking all his movements while he was inspecting the ongoing development work of Banashankari temple here.

Two intelligence men in mufti were video-recording his movements at the temple. They also allegedly used mobile phones to relay what they were watching to unknown persons suspected to be their bosses. Even the minister’s press briefing was recorded.
Of course, it would never be known who in the government ordered the Intelligence branch to keep tabs on Setty whose relations with Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa are reportedly strained. The Intelligence branch reports to the chief minister.

The sleuths’ none-too-covert operation came to light when they were found recording a tiff between some media persons and staff from the minister’s office over arrangements for the press conference.

When journalists noticed that a couple of unknown persons video-recording the proceedings, they questioned the duo.

One of them responded that he was from the State Intelligence Branch and that he was under instructions to record Setty’s temple visit.

What is strange, however, is that the sleuths made a clean breast of their antecedents and the ongoing action. When word reached Setty, he was furious. When he arrived at the spot, the person who was using the video camera fled. As he ran, the mobile phone slipped out of his grip, but he did not bother to retrieve it — not quite a reaction expected of an Intelligence branch.

“I am shocked that I am being watched. I have no knowledge that I am under surveillance,” reacted a visibly angry Setty.

While there is no evidence to suggest that Yeddyurappa ordered the surveillance on Setty, what is an open secret is that two do not enjoy the best of relations. The CM had recently taken Setty to task for having failed to work devotedly for the party during the Lok Sabha election campaign. Grapevine has it that the CM is planning to drop Setty from the Cabinet.

Not an isolated case

State government sources said the alleged surveillance mounted on Setty was not an isolated case.

Recently, a police official was caught on the wrong foot for following Urban Development minister too closely.

The minister’s staff, sources said, caught hold of the policeman who was found following Kumar at an unusually close distance not just in his official residence but also within the Vidhana Soudha premises.

The policeman refused to disclose his identity after being confronted. A police department identity card was recovered from his person after he was frisked.

The matter was taken up with a deputy commissioner of police who reportedly told Kumar that the police were trying to provide proximate security in the wake of the November 2008 terror strikes in Mumbai and the military operations by the Sri Lankan army against the LTTE. But BJP sources said they were convinced that a section of ministers, who are considered “dissidents” by the State party leadership, are routinely watched. The list includes ministers hailing from Bellary.

Later, when media persons me police Commissioner Shankar Bidari to hand over the mobile phone, he said there was nothing wrong to record a public event. “The Intelligence person must have fled since the minister had personally intervened. I will verify whether the person recording the event indeed belongs to the State intelligence unit or not,” he stated. However, a senior police officer requesting anonymity said the State Intelligence Branch is not used for political intelligence gathering or watching the movements of ministers. Recording is done only when there is a huge public gathering, the officer informed.

No comment..