When spying devices were found in PMO, who was recording the phones and why! theinsiderinsight

South Block, one of the most powerful offices in the world. Office of the Prime Minister of India i.e. PMO. Every information in this office can have an explosive effect like dynamite. Therefore, there is secrecy and super tight security at every step. But wait, this is not a guarantee of foolproof security of this office.

That morning a spy reaches the PMO. He took a cursory glance at the electronic gadgets of the PMO. This spy's mission was something different. All the electronic devices of PMO were on its radar. This spy had received 'high level' information that the security layer of the PMO had been broken and PMO information was being leaked. The boss's order to the detective was to find out where and how this leakage is happening.

Spies in PMO, it's surprising!

If you are wondering how a spy can enter a place like PMO, and how the things of PMO can be leaked! So wait, this spy who entered the PMO in the VVIP area of ​​Lutyens Jones was none other than a seasoned IB (Intelligence Bureau) officer known for many exploits.

The name of this officer was Malay Krishna Dhar. Super Cop Malay was an officer who carried out many intelligence missions of India. On the basis of his ability, he reached the post of Joint Director in IB. Malay has expressed the sweet and sour experiences of his life in the book and has penned down the adventures of a detective's life. This is from the 90's.

Spying bug in PM's confidant's telephone

Malay Krishna Dhar has mentioned this incident in his book Open Secrets: India's Intelligence Unveiled. He writes- 'In January 1992, I got a job related to PMO located in South Block. The task was to conduct an electronic investigation of the PMO to find out whether any spying devices were installed there. For this I was going to use sensitive bug detection equipment.

Let us tell you that the period of the 90s was a period of turmoil, political instability and race for power in India. Rajiv Gandhi was embroiled in the Bofors scam and was facing rebellion from his former commander VP Singh. Rajiv Gandhi had to face defeat in the 1989 elections and VP Singh became the Prime Minister. VP Singh's short tenure was important but his government could not function. After this Chandrashekhar became the Prime Minister.

Who was listening to PMO's phone recording?

Malay Krishna Dhar, citing the reason for PMO's espionage, claims that the reason for this was political enmity between Rajiv Gandhi and VP Singh.

He further wrote, '… while checking the electronic devices of the PMO, I was surprised when I inspected a VVIP phone. There was a small machine inside this phone and a small radio monitoring machine. Remember, this was not the cell phone era and officers/babu used to talk from landline phones kept on the desk. The conversations of this officer sitting in the PMO were being recorded from this phone. But on whose instructions was this recording being done? And who listened to this recording?

Malay Krishna Dhar writes that the phone on which the recording was being done was used by an assistant officer of the then Prime Minister. This was a very serious case of lapse in security of the PMO. Malay Krishna Dhar, who has played many roles of a spy, writes, 'This device was planted in that telephone by no one else but the IB itself and this work was done during the era of VP Singh. Due to this, IB kept getting clues about important movements taking place in PMO. In my understanding, this recording was ultimately sent to Rajiv Gandhi.

Officer had forgotten to remove the recording bug

According to Malay, he came to know about this spying device in January 1992 when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister of the country. It is worth noting that even before this, VP Singh's government had fallen in November 1990 and Rajiv Gandhi had lost his life in an LTTE attack on 21 May 1991. He has written that amidst the rapid political and bureaucratic changes, someone had forgotten to remove the spying equipment from the PMO. I fixed it by doing some electronic debugging operations. I could do only this much for the sanctity of the highest office of the country.

This IB officer has not told on whose boss's orders he had come to inspect the PMO. And who told IB to install this device in PMO? The question is whether Prime Minister VP Singh was not aware of the espionage taking place in his own office. There is no answer to these questions amidst the friction and race of politics.

Another such story of espionage in PMO has been mentioned by Malay Krishna Dhar in this book. In this story too, one character is from the Gandhi family and the other is a warlord from the Gandhi family.

Device on PMO rooftop, recording phones of Rashtrapati Bhavan

Malay Krishna Dhar writes in this book – That device was installed at a very high place in the PMO. This equipment was so powerful that it could record the conversations taking place from a special telephone installed inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Recorded tapes of this conversation were made available to Rajiv Gandhi from time to time. Due to which he used to get deep information about the conspiracies being hatched within the walls of this palace located in Lutyens Zone.

So why were the tapes coming to Rajiv? In this story, the author is pointing towards the deteriorating relations between Rajiv Gandhi and the then President Giani Zail Singh in 1987. There were discussions that President Giani Zail Singh once wanted to dismiss the Rajiv government. It is noteworthy that Giani Zail Singh was once a big leader of Congress. Was also the Chief Minister of Punjab. When Rajiv Gandhi became the PM of the country, Zail Singh was the President. But during this time their relationship had gone to the ground and there was a lot of ego conflict in these relationships.

I would like to avoid mentioning some bad words.

There were many reasons for this. A BBC report said that Giani Zail Singh, who visited the Golden Temple after Operation Bluestar, got distracted after seeing the pictures there. This created anger in his mind. Apart from this, Indira Gandhi also considered him responsible for spoiling the atmosphere of Punjab. When Rajiv Gandhi became PM, he also distanced himself from Zail Singh. Rajiv removed RK Dhawan, close to Zail Singh, from his post. Many such incidents come to light.

Referring to this recording, Malay Krishna Dhar writes – I would like to refrain from describing some of the best abuses used by the conspirators. These words, in typical Punjabi, were colorful idioms and sayings that portrayed the opponents of phone users. Some of the tapes, fortunately or unfortunately, also included some sensitive conversations of personalities in the PMO that exposed financial favors and favors.