Bugging in high offices ... IB goes into overdrive now

Bitten by the bug, IB goes on sweeping spree

Vishwa Mohan,TNN
Jun 22, 2011, 12.23am IST

NEW DELHI: Intelligence Bureau found nothing amiss after its probe into finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's bugging complaint in September last year but the agency increased the frequency of its 'technical sweeping' in high offices since then as a precaution.
As against occasional anti-bugging exercise inside finance ministry, the IB has now included this ministry in North Block as part of its regular 'technical sweeping' work like what it does for its own premises and offices of the PM in South Block and home minister in North Block.
A senior official said, "Taking cue from the finance minister's complaint which later turned out to be a mere alarm, the Intelligence Bureau now does anti-bugging exercise once every two days or at least four-five days a week."
Mukherjee had urged the PM to order a secret inquiry into the "serious breach of security in his office" in the form of "planted adhesives" in 16 locations in a possible surveillance attempt. Though no live microphone devices were found, he had reported it to the PM. The matter was subsequently transferred to IB for probe.
Referring to the investigation and forensic examination which termed the "adhesives" as nothing but "chewing gum", the official said the matter was "closed" in October last year.
At present, IB is doing 'technical sweeping' of PMO and offices of the home minister, home secretary and Intelligence Bureau director, special director and other senior officials almost every day as part of its 'charter'.
"In case of other ministries, the IB does this exercise as and when asked depending on the nature of issues being handled by those ministries. As an exception, the finance ministry is now being covered more frequently," an officer said.
Officials in the IB and home ministry, however, remained tight-lipped about CBDT reportedly using a private detective agency to conduct 'technical sweeping' to find bugs inside the finance ministry last year..........................http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTEvMDYvMjIjQXIwMTMwNA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Bugging in high offices ... President, Prime Minister and Union home secretary ... no one was spared in the past

Pranab at receiving end of bug trick that has been tried on many

Vishwa Mohan, TNN
Jun 22, 2011, 12.19am IST

NEW DELHI: Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee's complaint of his office being bugged may have hit the headlines but the practice of planting snooping devices in high offices is not new. There have been several instances of bugging in the past that include even offices of President, prime minister and home secretary.
In most cases, the snooping was done by Intelligence Bureau (IB) – the country's internal intelligence agency -- at the direction of 'political masters' of the day.
Such episodes have been chronicled by former IB joint director Maloy Krishna Dhar, who was instrumental in quite a few bugging exercises. A separate instance was recalled by former home secretary C G Somiah who after taking over in the ministry found that even his office in high-security North Block was bugged.
Retired IPS officer Dhar, in his book 'Open Secret: India's Intelligence Unveiled' gave a detailed account of how he along with another IB officer had "wired up" a few of Maneka Gandhi's friends which produced "tonnes of appalling information".
Calling such acts of snooping "immoral and illegal", he admitted that he was asked to mount surveillance on Maneka and her activities after Sanjay Gandhi's death.
In his book, Dhar who served for 30 years in India's premier intelligence agency, also narrated an episode of bugging former President Zail Singh and former PM V P Singh when they were in office in the 1980s.
He told TOI on Tuesday that nothing was done without a purpose. "The IB did such work a number of times in the past at the instance of political masters of the day. I have recollected only those episodes in my book which I know," he said.
Dhar's book recalled how bugging devices were planted inside Rashtrapati Bhawan when Zail Singh was president. He mentioned that the device, mounted somewhere on the top of the nearby PMO in South Block, picked up telephone conversations from certain "treated phones" inside Rashtrapati Bhawan. He wrote that the recorded tapes were regularly made available to the then PM Rajiv Gandhi.
Similarly, he recalled an episode of snooping inside the PMO when V P Singh was prime minister. Calling it another "TechInt (technical intelligence) operational coup", he wrote that he was asked to sweep PM P V Narasimha Rao's office with bugging devices in January 1992. He bumped on a forgotten micro-recording monitoring machine, implanted inside the phone of an aide to the PM which was planted by the IB during V P Singh's regime.
He wrote, "The end products, I understand, were delivered to Rajiv Gandhi even when Chandrashekhar warmed the seat for the former."
Five years later, former home secretary C G Somiah came out with his book – The Honest Always Stands Alone – in which he recalled an episode of bugging his office by IB. He was India's home secretary during 1986-88.
The retired IAS officer wrote, "When I took over as home secretary, a few incidents alerted me that probably my office was bugged. I had my office electronically swept and, sure enough, both my telephones were found to be bugged."
He mentioned he knew that it was the handiwork of H A Ansari, an IPS officer in IB. "I called him to my room and gave him a good tongue-lashing for his audacity to bug the home secretary. He feigned ignorance and denied the charge, but it was a warning to him not to act funny with me."..............http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTEvMDYvMjIjQXIwMTMwNQ==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Samjhauta Express train blasts: Hindu radicals showed their true colour

Aseemanand, four others charged in Samjhauta case
Jun 21, 2011, 12.58am IST TNN
[Vishwa Mohan]

NEW DELHI: Just three days before the foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan, the National Investigation Agency on Monday filed a chargesheet in a Panchkula court against five Hindu radicals including Swami Aseemanand in the Samjhauta Express train blast case and mentioned RSS senior leader Indresh Kumar as one of the "suspects" in the terror act.

Though Kumar is not an accused in the case as NIA has so far not found any corroborative evidence of his direct link, the agency referred to him thrice in the chargesheet. It said that his involvement in the conspiracy is "highly suspected".

The blast in the Pakistan-bound train took place on February 18, 2007 near Panipat in Haryana. Sixty-eight people including 43 Pakistani nationals were killed and 12 others injured in the incident. Samjhauta Express is a bi-weekly train that runs on Wednesdays and Sundays between Delhi-Attari in India and Lahore in Pakistan.

The chargesheeting of Hindutva radicals comes on the eve of the foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan where India wants to remind Pakistan of its continuing failure to bring the masterminds of 26/11 to justice. While trying to dodge its commitment to punish the terrorists responsible for the attack on Mumbai, Pakistan frequently tried to throw India off balance by raising the killing of Pakistanis in the Samjhauta blast. The action against the saffron terrorists , who allegedly planned the atrocity to avenge the spate of killings by jehadi terrorists, can close the opening for Pakistan.

Kumar's name figures as a "suspect" on the basis of his meeting with the perpetrators twice during 2005-06 when they "discussed about jihadi attacks on Hindu places of worships and the need to give befitting replies".

These meetings were followed by similar secret gatherings of select people which finally culminated in terror attacks not only on Samjhauta Express, but also blasts in Ajmer dargah, Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad) and twice in Malegaon under the radicals' "bomb ka badla bomb" plan. NIA had also referred to Kumar as a "suspect" in the Ajmer blast case as well.

"Details of the Samjhauta blast case chargesheet will be shared with Pakistan during the foreign secretary-level talks in Islamabad on June 23-24," said an official.

Besides 60-year-old Swami Aseemanand (Naba Kumar Sarkar), the other four who have been chargesheeted include slain RSS activist Sunil Joshi, property dealer Lokesh Sharma, engineer Sandeep Dange and electrician Ramchandra Kalsangra alias Ramji. While Aseemanand and Sharma are currently in jail, Dange and Ramji are absconding.

The 24-page chargesheet claimed that "investigation has brought out strong suspicion about the role of some more persons in the conspiracy as well" and therefore further probe in the case would continue.

Referring to its probe and corroborative evidence, the agency alleged that Aseemanand had not only provided financial and logistical support to the terror group, but also played "a vital role in instigating and motivating his associates to undertake this terrorist act".

It said that Dange, Ramji, Sharma and Joshi were instrumental in procuring raw materials for the IEDs and getting them fabricated. The bombs were allegedly planted in the train by Dange and Ramji with the help of others.

Although the agency has more or less replicated Aseemanand's confessional statement – which he had later withdrawn – in the chargesheet, it claimed that it could establish the clear links of these accused through "call detail reports of various mobile phones" and the suitcase covers in which the IEDs were kept. These were procured from Kothari market in Indore, Madhya Pradesh.

Besides Kumar, the agency has referred to three others – Amit Chauhan alias Sunny, Pragya Singh Thakur and Devender Gupta – as those whose roles are "highly suspect". Amit is absconding while Thakur is jailed in connection with her involvement in the 2008 Malegaon blast whereas Gupta is behind bars for his role in the 2007 Ajmer blast.

Kumar's name first appeared in connection with a meeting at Surat in October 2005. NIA said: "Some participants (of the Surat meeting) including one Indresh Kumar visited Shabridham in Gujarat to pay obesience to Shabri Mata Mandir. During the visit, Sunil Joshi arranged a meeting of Aseemanand with the said Indresh Kumar. During their discussion, they discussed about jihadi attacks on Hindu places of worship and the need to give befitting replies."

Later, Joshi and Bharat Bhai (Ajmer blast case accused) met Indresh Kumar in Nagpur where the latter gave them "Rs 50,000 in cash to meet the expenditure for procurement of explosives and other materials".

The agency claimed the investigation had revealed that Aseemanand was quite upset with the jihadi terror attacks on temples – Akshardham (Gujarat), Raghunath Mandir (Jammu) and Sankat Mochan (Varanasi) – and used to give vent" to his feelings while discussing it with Joshi and his associates.

The chargesheet said the "main conspiracy meeting" to carry out the attack on Samjhauta Express took place in June 2006. This was attended by Aseemanand, Sadhvi Pragya, Sunil Joshi, Dange, Ramji, Lokesh Sharma, Amil Chauhan and Bharat Bhai. Aseemanand, who presided over the meeting, announced that "Bomb ka jawab bomb se dena chahiya" and discussed the "operational modus operandi".

The gang subsequently formed "three groups" with a clear direction that each group would work independently. The first group comprising Aseemanand and Bharat Bhai was responsible for "motivating youths for the mission and providing shelter to the field workers". Aseemanand during one of his visits to Pune also met extremist outfit Abhinav Bharat's Himani Savarkar and Pramod Mutalik. Mutalik was later arrested in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

The second group comprising Lokesh Sharma and Devender Gupta was responsible for procuring raw materials whereas the third group of Dange and Kalsangra was supposed to fabricate and plant the bombs with the help of others. Joshi, who was mysteriously killed in Dewas in December 2007, used to be their operational head and the common link among the three groups.

NIA suspects that Joshi was murdered by the same members as they believed that his arrest in future might prove to be disastrous for them. Joshi's murder case was probed by the Madhya Pradesh police.....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTEvMDYvMjEjQXIwMDkwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

True colour of Maoists .... Naxals want hinterland to remain backward

Fighting against state ‘apathy’, Maoists destroy all signs of development
Jun 20, 2011, 02.09am IST TNN
[Vishwa Mohan]

NEW DELHI: Maoists may cite ‘under-development’ of certain areas as one of the reasons for their violent movement against state "discrimination" but they leave no stone unturned to keep "development" at bay in their strongholds.

The Maoists attacked 1,241 ‘economic targets’ during 2007-11, damaging railway property, telephone towers, electricity transmission lines, power plants, roads and mines across nine states in the country.

Home ministry’s latest statistics on Naxal violence (from January 2007 to June 16 this year) shows that the Maoists repeatedly selected such targets in four states – Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar – where their presence is substantial. Five states -- West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh -- witnessed relatively lesser number of such incidents.

Besides 465 roads, the banned CPI (Maoist) targeted 188 railway property including stations, crossings and tracks; equal number of school buildings; 187 telephone exchanges/towers; 69 panchayat bhawans; 45 electricity transmission lines; 30 mines; nine power plants and 60 other ‘economic targets’ like solar plates, cement plants and other manufacturing/industrial production units during the period.

The statistics show that they selected their targets carefully. They attacked ‘symbols of development’ in hinterlands like panchayat bhawans and school buildings as well as means of communication and transportation, in a move to virtually cut off the ‘under-developed’ areas from the mainstream.

Their attack on school buildings had earlier been interpreted as the ultras’ attempt to destroy all such places which were being occupied by security personnel. But this interpretation went for a toss when officials in the Naxal management division of the home ministry found that only one-fourth of the total 188 school buildings destroyed by Maoists were home to security personnel at any point of time.

"Certainly, the Maoists do not want to have signs of development in their strongholds, defying the very basis of their so-called people’s struggle against the state’s alleged apathy and discrimination towards under-developed/tribal areas," an official said.

The compilation shows that 2011 witnessed attacks on 142 ‘economic targets’ with latest being reported from Bihar on Wednesday when the ultras torched a railway station near Patna and blew up six mobile towers in Gaya.

Although the number of such targets this year (January–June) is less compared to the corresponding period last year, it has been due to increased security measures like deploying additional central forces and stepping up joint operations in the violence-hit states.

The years 2009 and 2010 were the worst, not only in terms of losing public property but also in terms of ‘deaths’ in Naxal violence. As many as 1,005 people were killed last year in 2,212 incidents as against 908 in 2,258 incidents in 2009; 721 in 1,591 incidents in 2008 and 696 in 1,565 incidents in 2007. This year has so far seen 226 deaths in 733 incidents.

26\11 Mumbai terror attack - It's time to be realistic and figure out your own strengths and weaknesses

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India banking on US to nail 26/11 accused?
Jun 15, 2011, 02.45am IST TNN
[Vishwa Mohan]

NEW DELHI: After losing its grip over Canadian Tahawwur Rana following his acquittal in the Mumbai terror attack case by a Chicago court, India does not appear to have left with any option but to depend on the US to nail 'key-players' like Sajid Mir, Abu Qahafa and others.

Earlier, New Delhi had lost American Lashkar terrorist David Headley once he entered into a plea bargain with American authorities last year.

Though Indian agency will file chargesheet against both Headley and Rana after getting all relevant documents from the US in the 26\11 case and possibly in other terror-related cases, the move will only give India a handle to raise 'diplomatic pitch' as and when needed.

"We can raise the pitch before the US asking for extradition of Rana and Headley after chargesheeting them in different cases. But, it does not have any meaning as both of them cannot be extradited unless they serve their jail sentences in the US," said a government official who is privy to consultations at different levels post-Rana's acquittal.

He argued that since Rana was convicted on two counts facing minimum 30 years of prison, and Headley pleaded guilty on 12 counts — facing nothing less than 40 or 50 years of jail term — all the noise of a possible extradition was just like trying to send a 'political message'.

"Instead of wasting 'political capital' pitching for a minnow like Rana, India would rather prefer to put pressure on Pakistan through US to get Sajid Mir and others", said the official.

Besides Headley and Rana, US had also named six others, including Sajid Mir, Ilyas Kashmiri, Abdul Rehman Hashim Sayeed, Abu Qahafa and Major Iqbal, as co-accused in the 26\11 case.

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has already reportedly said Headley would testify in any future prosecutions of al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri and Lashkar's Sajid Mir, making it clear that Americans would not stop mounting pressure on Pakistan to look for them.

Referring to Fitzgerald's claim, the official here said India had to see how Pakistan responds to the US demand. He said, "Islamabad may not fall in line in case of retired or serving Army officers like Major Iqbal and Hashim, but its cooperation is expected from Americans in case of Sajid Mir and Kashmiri, whose death in drone attack is not yet confirmed".

India is also waiting from the US the documents that Washington produced in the Chicago court as evidence against Rana during his trial. It is expected that the FBI would send all these papers to New Delhi within 15 days.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is investigating Headley-Rana case here, will file its chargesheet against them after it receives those documents. Both of them will be chargesheeted for their alleged involvement in the Mumbai terror attack case.

"Since Headley had scouted for as many as 34 terror targets and Rana helped him in providing cover for doing surveillance, they can be charged in different cases as and when the NIA comes across any corroborative evidence," the officer added...............http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTEvMDYvMTUjQXIwMTcwMg==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

26\11 Mumbai terror attack:...Pakistan keeps on delaying the trial in Rawalpindi court

For fourth time, Pak transfers 26/11 judge

Judge Was Hearing Case Against 7 LeT Plotters, India Sees It As Tactic To Delay Justice

Vishwa Mohan, TNN

New Delhi: In what is seen in India as a tactic to delay the trial of the Mumbai terror attack perpetrators, Pakistan has once again transferred the judge hearing the 26/11 case against seven jailed Lashkar terrorists. This is the fourth time that the trial judge of the concerned Rawalpindi court has been transferred in the past two years.

The judge, Rana Nisar Ahmed, hearing the case since November 2010, was transferred from the Rawalpindi court to the Shankargarh court in Punjab province of Pakistan on Saturday.

The Rawalpindi court has been hearing the Mumbai terror attack case against seven accused — Lashkar commanders Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Abu-al-Qama and others — since 2009. Before Ahmed, three other judges of the same court had been transferred forcing the case to drag on without any conclusion in sight.

The matter is being delayed despite India asking Pakistan time and again to bring the 26/11 perpetrators to justice at the earliest. “That could be the only sign of Pakistan showing its earnestness in fighting terrorism,” said an official.

Pakistan has, however, been delaying the matter in more ways than one. Despite India’s readiness to welcome a Pakistani panel here in connection with 26/11 probe, Islamabad has so far not even conveyed to New Delhi when its judicial commission will come to India to take the statement of the magistrate who had recorded the confessional statement of the lone surviving Lashkar gunman Ajmal Kasab.

India had agreed to the Pakistani proposal of sending its judicial commission during the home secretary-level talks between the two countries here in March.

Besides recording the statement of additional chief metropolitan magistrate R V Sawant Waghule, the panel is also supposed to record the statements of investigating officer (IO) Ramesh Mahale and the doctors who conducted the post-mortem of the terrorists killed by commandos during the Mumbai terror attack.

An official here said that Pakistan should have immediately informed its court about India’s consent and got the required permission. But, the neighbouring country has so far not taken any action on this nor has it given any information to India about it. The transfer of the trial court judge will further delay the matter, he added.

Islamabad had been maintaining that it was necessary to send the commission to India as part of the judicial process of the 26/11 case in Pakistan and had promised on March 29 that it would do so within four to six weeks — i.e. by May 15. “But more than 10 weeks after the home secretary-level talks, nothing has been heard from Islamabad on the proposed commission’s visit to India,” an official said.

Pakistan’s contention is that the charges against the seven Lashkar terrorists are based on Kasab’s statement in Mumbai and hence the magistrate and the IO’s statements are necessary for submission before the anti-terror court there. “But the country now does not appear to be serious about this,” said the official......http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTEvMDYvMTQjQXIwMDcwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom

Naxalism .... Is securing the area 'first' needed before going ahead with basic development projects in Red zone?

Plan panel data reopens development vs security debate
Jun 12, 2011, 02.59am IST TNN
[Vishwa Mohan]

NEW DELHI: A fresh spurt of naxal violence in Chhattisgarh with 18 security personnel killed in the past three days in as many incidents, has posed a strong challenge to the Centre's efforts to prioritise the development option in countering the Red menace.

An analysis of Planning Commission data on the government's ambitious Integrated Action Plan (IAP) shows that Dantewada, which has borne the brunt of repeated naxal attacks, is in the five best performing districts out of 60 major Maoist-affected areas in implementing development projects.

The performance of other districts in Chhattisgarh is similarly far ahead as compared to districts in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Orissa. But the state in general and Dantewada in particular has faced maximum violence since December last year when the IAP was put in motion.

In contrast, Adilabad and Khammam districts of Andhra Pradesh show poor results in taking up or completing development projects but they are largely untroubled by major violence as the state seems to be better at policing and security infrastructure.

Although Chhattisgarh, particular its Bastar region comprising Dantewada, is at the centre of Maoist campaigns to carve an autonomous area, the analysis is likely to be hailed by votaries of the "security first" argument. It certainly makes a case for equal emphasis on controlling territory for development schemes to be really effective.

A section within the government believes "development is a must but it has to be security first". The Planning Commission data more or less supports this viewpoint.

The Centre in November last year had cleared the IAP with an aim of accelerating development schemes in 60 major naxal-affected districts. These districts were given Rs 25 crore each during the last financial year. It was decided that the grant will go up to Rs 30 crore in 2011-12.

Accordingly, each district was given Rs 10 crore during April-May in the current financial year, making it a total Rs 35 crore each to all the districts in the past six months.

An analysis of 'physical progress' of the sanctioned and completion of development projects – as per data updated by the Planning Commission till June 11 -- shows that Gadchiroli (90.49% projects completed) in Maharashtra is the best district followed by Gondiya (82.12%), Dantewada (75.95%) in Chhattisgarh, Sonbhadra (64.28%) in Uttar Pradesh and Kanker (56.79%) in Chhattisgarh.

Nonetheless, three – Gadchiroli, Dantewada and Kanker -- witnessed naxal incidents with Dantewada, being in the heart of Red stronghold, facing maximum violence and casualties of security personnel.

In contrast, Adilabad (6.55%) and Khammam (10.96%) remained peaceful despite a poor record in implementing the IAP scheme. Peace in these areas through better security infrastructure and policing has endured.

Andhra Pradesh has been successful in curbing naxal threats ever since it set up a specialized unit – Greyhounds – to take on Red ultras and focused on filling up police vacancies and strengthening human intelligence or Humint network over the past couple of years.

In terms of 'physical progress' of projects – that can show sign of development on the ground, Bihar is the worst among nine states completing only 3.49% of the projects, followed by Madhya Pradesh (6.59%) and Andhra Pradesh (7.86%).

The IAP schemes, decided by a committee headed by the district collector in each district, are being implemented in 15 districts of Orissa, 14 of Jharkhand, 10 of Chhattisgarh, eight of Madhya Pradesh, seven of Bihar, two each in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and one each in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.