VEEKAYS NEWSLETTER – 2008
Dear Friends,
The year 2008 is coming to an end. It was a long, long year, but has gone in a whirl. I must have attended 30 – 40 hearings in the Tis Hazari courts, the High Court and the Chief Information Commissioner’s office. Add the visits to the lawyers’ chambers, the National Archives, the Nehru Memorial Library, the Press Information Bureau etc and of course the Signals History Cell – you will agree that ‘hectic’ would be an understatement. By now you must be confused, so let me start from the beginning.
You must be aware of the hullabaloo concerning my book India’s External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), and what happened between publication of the book in June 2007 and the end of that year. For the benefit of those who did not get my last newsletter, I will give a brief summary. In September 2007 the CBI raided my house looking for incriminating documents that they thought I must have used while writing the book. They did not find any, but they took away my computer – it had the manuscript of the book - some diaries, and my passport. I don’t think they were really interested in the passport, but since they did not find anything worthwhile, they added it to the list of seized items. The CBI informed me that they had registered an FIR under Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act, 1923, based on a complaint from the RAW that I had revealed ‘secrets’ in the book that endanger the security and sovereignty of India. I wonder if the deputy secretary who signed the letter knows the meaning of the word ‘sovereignty’.
To forestall imminent arrest, I applied for anticipatory bail. During the hearing held on 26/09/07 in the Court of the Sessions Judge in Tis Hazari, the CBI opposed the bail application. However, they were unable to produce any evidence to support their plea. They informed the court that they had still to read the book and examine the other documents seized from my house and needed more time. The Court granted their request and fixed the next date of hearing on 5/11/2007. The CBI gave an undertaking that they would not arrest me without the sanction of the Court. In view of this the Court felt that there was no need to pass any order regarding bail.
In the next hearing the CBI did not produce any evidence. However, they opposed the bail, asking for custodial interrogation. They also requested that subsequent hearings should be held ‘in camera’, since the documents they intended to produce were very sensitive. This was obviously done with the intention of keeping the proceedings away from the glare of the media, which had severely castigated the action of the CBI and RAW. After about a dozen hearings, during which the CBI could not produce anything, on 11/4/08 the Addl. Sessions Judge passed an order allowing ‘in camera’ hearing of the anticipatory bail application. I then filed a petition against this order in the High Court, which stayed the proceedings. The hearings for this are still going on.
Meanwhile, CBI filed a charge sheet on 11/4/08 in the Court of the CMM. Soon after the filing of the charge sheet in the court of the CMM, I filed a revision petition in the High Court on 14/5/08 to quash the FIR and charge sheet. Both petitions in the High Court are being heard together.
An application filed by me under Section 311 Cr.P.C on 8/4/08 and the case filed by the CBI in the court of the CMM are being heard together. In the hearing on 24/10/08, the CMM, Shri Sanjeev Jain was not holding court and the link magistrate adjourned both matters for 6/2/09. Before the hearing in the High Court on 12/11/08, the CBI counsel spoke to my counsel Mr. Prashant Bhushan and requested him to agree for an adjournment since his wife was not well. In the two previous hearings on 17/7/08 and 25/8/08 he had sought adjournments on similar grounds. Since the next date of hearing in the CMM’s court was on 6/2/09, we agreed to his request and the High Court adjourned the case for 28/1/09.
On 14/11/09 I was informed by someone in Tis Hazari that the case for taking of cognizance had been heard by the CMM, Mrs. Kaveri Baweja and she would pass orders at 2 pm. This took me completely by surprise and I rushed to Tis Hazari. It became clear that the CBI counsel had prevailed on the link magistrate to change the date after my counsel Mr. Anup Khullar left on 24/10/08. I filed an application in the court of the CMM calling for the steno notebook of 24/10/08 when my counsel had been clearly told that that the next date for both cases would be 6/2/09. The CMM adjourned the hearing to 5/12/08 and then to 21/1/2009. The aim of the CBI counsel was s very clear. Using any means, he wanted the CMM to take cognizance of the case before it is argued in the High Court, where there is a good chance of the FIR and charge sheet being quashed, since there is no substance in the charges. I have written a letter to the CBI Chief, Mr Ashwani Kumar, bringing to his notice the unethical behavior their counsel.
Of course, mine is not the only book about RAW. Till date, four books on RAW have been published in India (there are many in Pakistan). These are:-
(a) Inside RAW: The Story of India’s Secret Service, by Asoka Raina, (Vikas Publishing House, Delhi, 1981).
(b) India’s External Intelligence – Secrets of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) by Maj Gen VK Singh (Manas Publications, New Delhi, June 2007).
(c) The Kaoboys of R&AW- Down Memory Lane by B. Raman, (Lancer Publishers, New Delhi, July 2007).
(d) Inside IB and RAW- The Rolling Stone that Gathered Moss by K. Sankaran Nair (Manas Publications, New Delhi, October 2007).
All three books are more explicit than the one written by me and contain many disclosures of the type that have been included in my charge sheet. The main charges are as under :-
(a) Revealing the charter of RAW recommended by the Group of Minister in 2001. (The GOM Report is available on the MOD website, but according to RAW it is Secret. It has also been mentioned in the PIB release as well as several articles)
(b) Facts related to Project Vision 2000 which was Top Secret. (All that is given in the book is that I was deputed to RAW as Joint Secretary (Tele) under Project Vision 2000, which had 15 projects.)
(c) Facts related to VSAT project and purchase of VHF/UHF antennae (These were procured from private companies in India and abroad, all of whom were given the detailed technical parameters).
(d) Locations of stations in India as well as foreign countries. (Since RAW’s charter is external intelligence, this is hardly a secret. The other books have mentioned many more locations than what I have mentioned. Articles that regularly appear in the media also give names of RAW officers posted abroad eg Ravi Nair who was recalled from Colombo, Man Mohan Sharma and Uma Mishra from Beijing and so on. The Wikipedia article has photos of RAW stations with latitude and longitude, including the ARC airbase in Kazakhistan!)
I filed about 25 applications under the Right to Information Act, 2005 with various departments such as the PMO, Cabinet Secretariat, MHA, Law Ministry, CBI, NSCS and so on. I pointed out the disclosures made in other books and articles and asked them whether they are being prosecuted. As expected, no one gave a straight answer. The applications were transferred from one agency to another. Finally, they landed up in the NSCS or the Cabinet Secretariat (SR) which refused to answer, quoting security concerns. I then filed complaints/appeals with the Chief Information Commissioner. The first batch of 17 cases was heard by the CIC on 10/10/2008. Orders were issued on most of them. A few are still pending. One pertains to the Cabinet Sectt (SR), which has been asked to provide the information regarding action taken on the complaint transferred to it by the CVC, since it involves corruption. The second pertains to the NSCS, which has been asked to produce the GOM Report on National Security without deletions. Meanwhile, as advised by the CIC, I have addressed complaints regarding other books and articles to the CBI as well as the NSA.
Why am I being targeted? There are many reasons. One is that I was an outsider, while Raman and Sankaran Nair are both old RAW hands. In the Hindustan Times of 13/10/07, Barkha Dutt wrote:-
Moreover, why has V.K. Singh been singled out for punishment? After all, a slew of recent books by former spies – including one by security analyst B. Raman that accuses Rajiv Gandhi of covering up the Bofors probe – have been allowed into the public domain without fuss or fury. Could it be because V.K. Singh was never an ‘insider’ but a military officer on deputation? Is this just petty bureaucratic politics playing itself out?
In the Indian Express on 9/10/07 Veerappa Moily, the Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission (which recommended that the Official Secrets Act, 1923, should be repealed) wrote:-
Such overly harsh and sweeping provisions help create a Kafaesque atmosphere of secrecy about even trifling matters as shown by the travails of a former RAW officer whose criticism of the procurement practices in his former organisation have been taken to be a breach of the OSA. His revelations may be considered as whistle-blowing by some while his former colleagues may consider them to be washing dirty linen in public. But how such allegations can be considered a breach of national security is difficult to fathom.
TSR Subramanian, who was the Cabinet Secretary between 1996 and 1998, wrote in the Indian Express on 6/10/07:
……How can a person be hauled up before court for revealing official secrets if the prosecuting agency does not even know what secrets are being revealed? This is some kind of Alice in Wonderland situation. ……V.K. Singh is basically to be seen as a whistleblower.
Another factor is the personal animus of the present RAW Chief, Mr Ashok Chaturvedi. Apparently, he was peeved at the mention of the incident concerning a senior officer who did not attend office for several months after he was overlooked for promotion. Though he was not named in the book, this was known to everyone and later became public knowledge. As was widely reported by the media, he was promoted as Special Secretary and later as Secretary at the behest of the then Cabinet Secretary, BK Chaturvedi, who was related to him. A biographical sketch of the Ashok Chaturvedi on Wikipedia gives many other interesting details.
Another reason is that the book has named several officers who were corrupt. Some of them were very senior, belonging to the Cabinet Secretariat, MHA, SPG and RAW. Their names have been published in many articles. (Double Checking by Saikat Datta in the Outlook, 28 Jan 2008). These officers are extremely annoyed at the disclosure and have vowed to teach the ‘whistle blower’ a lesson. It was expected that some of them may drag me court – the fact that they have not done so is itself a pointer. Rather than sue me for libel, they have hit on a better option – prosecuting me under the OSA. It does not cost a penny, and they will achieve their aim, without their names being dragged in court.
It is pertinent that I had reported these cases to my superiors while in service. There were two cases which involved corruption. One was the procurement of the Motorola system by the SPG and the other was the purchase of VHF/UHF antennae by RAW. (In the third case of VSATs, there was no corruption but attempts to sabotage the project by moles). I reported both cases in writing right up the chain. In the SPG case I even wrote a DO letter to a Joint Secretary in the PMO, after which the order was cancelled. (Strangely enough, the SPG case does not find mention in my charge sheet). The same happened in the case of the antennae. The order was put on hold. However, after I left RAW, both items were purchased at the original price. This really got my goat. It was only after this that I decided to put it in the book.
I must acknowledge the support that I have received from a wide cross section of society, including the media. Mr. Prashant Bhushan, a well known Supreme Court lawyer and PIL activist, is handling my cases in the High Court. Two very close friends, Anup Khullar and Chander Maini are doing the same in the lower courts. Mr Arvind Kejriwal, the RTI activist, has given advice on the RTI matters. On my part, I have approached the National Human Rights Commission, the Chief Vigilance Commission, and the Chief Information Commission. Is it not strange that the personal animus of one man – Ashok Chaturvedi – has made a mockery of democracy and the rule of law in our country? After this, will anyone raise his voice against corruption? Do statutes like the Right to Information Act and the Whistleblowers Resolutions exist only on paper?
Enough of my travails, which must be depressing for others. I am sure it will end one day, but it may take a long time. I have always believed in the dictum, “do what you have to do, and leave the rest to God”. This is also the essence of the Gita – do your Karma, without worrying about the results.
Like last year, we had a wonderful holiday in the hills this year too. (I think Sukesh Jain is unhappier than me about my passports being seized. We had decided to visit a new place abroad every year, and started with China in 2006.) This year we went to Lansdowne, and were paying guests of the Garhwal Rifles Centre. I had stayed with them in 1982 and 1983 while doing the recce for the Himalayan Car Rally and wanted to show my grandchildren the wonderful collection of shikar trophies in their Officers Mess. Unfortunately, we discovered that we were not permitted to enter the Mess, so the kids were disappointed. But there were many other attractions, and it was good fun. We stayed in a cottage named after Colonel Rudra who had donated the funds for its construction. Incidentally, he is credited with the idea of spending the money donated by Sudan on building an inter services training academy (NDA) instead of a war memorial.
We are still staying in ABHIMAUR-VIKUM, at G-31, Palam Vihar. The house is only our years old, but has been giving us problems. The builder used sub standard pipes, which rusted and there was a lot of seepage. I had to get all the GI pipes replaced by PPR pipes. This entailed breaking the walls of the bathrooms and some of the bedrooms. We had to spend a lot of money on new pipes, tiles, plaster, POP and paint. The repairs are still going on. I filed a case in the Consumer Redressal Forum and have been awarded Rs 4 lacs as damages! He still has not paid up, but will, since a warrant has now been issued.
The new DSOI and Ansal Plaza have come up next to our house. Kumud and I spend an hour every morning at the gym in the DSOI, which has proved to be a boon for the service officers living nearby. The mall is not yet fully functional, through the three movie halls are. We see at least one movie every week. There is no need to book seats in advance – a couple of times, there were just the two of us in the hall.
My daughter, Mauravi and her family stay with us on the ground floor, but are now moving to their own flat in Celebrity Homes nearby. Her hubby, Vaibhav, is in the merchant navy and on leave presently, helping with the shifting. Of course, we will miss their two children, Mriggya and Eshaana – they are 6 and 4 – but hope to see them every day, being so near. My son Abhimanyu is still staying with us, on the first floor, with his wife Jasmine, and their two children, Bhuvanyu and Khushi, who are almost the same age – 6 and 4 ½ respectively. Abhimanyu is still running his company, Trinity Education Services. His Irish setter, Red, is now the only canine member of the family. She is getting on in years – 11 years - and may be with us for another couple of years. After we lost our Dalmation (Misha) and the Golden Retriever (Sophia) last year, Kumud was so traumatized that she has vowed not to keep another dog.
My USI project – The Contribution of the Armed Forces to the Freedom Movement was completed a year ago. It is likely to be published soon by Knowledge World. I spend most of time on the third volume of the History of the Corps of Signals, which will cover the period 1947 to 1972. I have been at it for over a year now, and hope to complete it in 2010. It is to be released during the Corps Centenary in February 2011.
Sorry for the long newsletter. But so much has happened, and is happening, that I thought I must share it with friends. Forgive me if I have bored you to death.
Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Vinay and Kumud Singh
G-31, Palam Vihar, Gurgaon – 122017
Tele:0124- 4074077, 9873494521, 9810618599
25thDecember2008
