Real Life Stories of Indian Spies That Will Make Every Indian Proud

There is no metric to rate India’s spies. All of them, from time immemorial, have worked behind the scenes to ensure the safety of millions. At the risk of their lives, away from their loved ones, in the most unforgivable of situations, the spies quietly fulfill their job – save India’s future.

While you may have read about the real life Sehmat Khan on whom the story in the Alia Bhatt film Raazi is based, here are some of the incredible spies who gave their all for the sake of the nation.

1. Rameshwar Nath Kao

The father of India’s external intelligence, Rameshwar Nath Kao was the superspy who has been photographed only twice in public in his entire career. Not much is known about his past before he formed RAW in1969.

What is known is that Kao was the genius behind the intelligence successes during the 1971 Indo-Pak War which led to the liberation of Bangladesh. He was also the man who had the foresight to understand the importance of a separate and dedicated external intelligence gathering machinery for India’s security.

Such was his stature that the agents in RAW, the agency he served as its chief till 1977, were called ‘Kaoboys’.

In fact, Kao was so good that Count Alexandre de Marenches, the head of the French external intelligence agency SDECE (Service For External Documentation And Counter-Intelligence) from 1970-1981 counted the Indian intelligence chief among the five greatest spymasters of the 1970s.

Though he resigned from his post in 1977, Kao was brought back as a security adviser by Indira Gandhi in 1980. Later on, Kao formed the National Security Guards (NSG).

2. Saraswathi Rajamani

The oldest among the known names in this list is of Saraswathi Rajamani. Born in Rangoon in what is now Myanmar, Rajamani was probably her given name. Her family owned a gold mine. Though the richest in Rangoon, Rajamani’s family were staunch nationalists and wanted India’s freedom from the British rule. Inspired by her family, Rajamani donated her jewellery to Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (INA) at age 16.

She then joined the force and became a member of the military’s intelligence. She masqueraded as a boy along with others of the intelligence wing to gather information from inside British camps.

At one point, one of the ‘spy boys’ was caught. To rescue her comrade, Rajamani sneaked into the enemy camp as a dancer and drugged the British guards. While making a daring escape, she was shot in the leg. But Rajamani still managed to make good her escape.

3. Ravindra Kaushik

Though all of India’s spies have rendered invaluable service to the nation, the name of Ravindra Kaushik stands out for a very special reason.

Among the spies we know about, Kaushik was the only one to have gone right inside the heart of the Pakistani power centre – its military – to gather invaluable information for India.

A theatre actor from Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan, the very handsome Kaushik was picked up by Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s external intelligence agency, for the thankless job after the saw one of his performances at Lucknow. He spent close to two years receiving training as a spy. Just like a methodical actor, he perfected Urdu, internalised Islamic texts and studied the terrain of Pakistan. He also underwent circumcision to ensure that nothing gives him away.

Kaushik took the name of Nabi Ahmed Shakir before he entered Pakistan in 1975, aged 23. Using his skills, Kaushik enrolled in Karachi University and studied LLB. What proved his mettle in fooling the Pakistanis is the fact that he was able to join the Pakistani Army and rose to the rank of a Major.

Between 1979 and 1983, he passed on information about Pakistani military secrets to India. During the time he spent in Pakistan, Shakir married a Pakistani girl and had a son with her.

In 1983, another Indian spy, Inyat Masih, who was supposed to act as a contact for Kaushik, got caught. He broke down before Pakistani interrogation and gave away Kaushik’s name. Kaushik was caught. Though he was sentenced to death, the Pakistani Supreme Court commuted it to life in prison. The spy who was given the nickname of ‘Black Tiger’ by none other than Indira Gandhi, died in jail on 26 July 1999, just after the end of the Kargil War.

4. Mohanlal Bhaskar

Bhaskar is incredibly famous for his gripping tell-all ‘Main Pakistan Mein Bharat Ka Jasoos Tha’ (the English version is titled: An Indian Spy in Pakistan). The book has a preface by Khushwant Singh, who writes, “Not all the wealth of the world would persuade me to undergo what Mohanlal Bhaskar had to go through in the jails of Lahore, Kot Lakhpat, Mianwali and Multan. It is a miracle that after all that he lives to tell his tale, retain his sanity and teach in a school.”

That in itself sums up what Bhaskar went through. In the book, Bhaskar talks about everything he did for India as a spy during the tumultuous years leading up to India’s first nuclear test in 1974. Bhaskar was sent to Pakistan to gather information on the country’s nuclear programme, which India suspected was on. To perfect his act, he got circumcised and changed his identity to Mohammed Aslam.

He was betrayed by a double agent identified as Amrik Singh. Arrested in Pakistan, Bhaskar served prison terms for 14 years till 1974. He was repatriated to India in a prisoner swap. In his book he also mentioned about ‘The Missing 54’ – the 54 Indian soldiers who were captured by the Pakistanis in 1971 Indo-Pak War.

The spy became immensely popular for the concluding paras of his book in which he accused then prime minister Morarji Desai of insulting the spies of the country by rejecting his plea for compensation for Indians who served time in jail abroad in service of the country.

5. Kashmir Singh

Released after 35 years in Pakistani jail, Kashmir Singh’s story is one of grit, fidelity and perseverance. He initially served in the Indian Army before joining the Punjab Police. He later agreed to spy for India for a monthly salary of Rs 480.

Caught when he was 37 years of age, Singh would go on to serve 35 years in Pakistani jail till his release in 2008 following a pardon by then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.

Singh crossed over into Pakistan in 1969. He was an excellent photographer and he put his skills to good use by taking photos of Pakistani military establishments and weapons including T-59 tanks which Pakistan had then received from China. Singh used to crossover into India periodically to supply information and take updates. But one day, while on his way back from a spy mission, he was arrested from a bus. Singh was betrayed by a man acting as his guide. Singh was arrested just a day before he was to return to India.

Though he remained imprisoned for 35 years, Singh never divulged that he was a spy. It was through the efforts of famed Pakistani human rights activist Ansar Burney that Singh finally found freedom.

6. Ajit Doval

Today, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is the third most powerful man in India after the President and Prime Minister. But there was a time when he was just another spy. And like the best of spies in India, he, too, operated in Pakistan.

Doval joined the Indian Police Service in 1968 in the Kerala cadre and immediately started as an intelligence operative. Throughout his stellar career, Doval terminated hijackings, collected critical information, operated undercover behind enemy lines in both Pakistan and China, and converted hostiles into allies.

One of his most daring missions was gathering information from inside the Golden Temple in 1988, before Operation Black Thunder. A master in disguise, Doval convinced the Khalistanis that he was from Pakistan’s ISI and managed to go in and gather details regarding weapons, men, positions, etc.

He was also one of the three negotiators who secured the release of hostages in the IC-814 hijacking in 1999. Doval was the chief of the Intelligence Bureau from July 2004 to January 2005. In May 2014, he became India’s fifth NSA. Doval, who is popularly called the James Bond of India, has the rare distinction of being honoured with Kirti Chakra – India’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award – as a police officer.

The elite officer is also known for the Doval Doctrine – a strategic policy plan for India to deal with Pakistan and China.

Salute to such heroes who do their job without doubt and rewards.