Open Secrets: The Explosive Memoirs of an Indian Intelligence Officer by Maloy Krishna Dhar

Author:Maloy Krishna Dhar [Dhar, Maloy Krishna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mainak Dhar
Published: 2012-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

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The popular perception that Maneka was thrown out of 1 Safdarjung Road is not correct. She had meticulously prepared for the event and precipitated the matter by floating a political outfit, Sanjay Vichar Manch just a day before Indira returned from London. My static watchers and moles inside the PMH had noticed Maneka and Ambika transferring out small baggage items, which allegedly contained cash, from Safdarjung house to her mother’s place at Jorbagh. It’s not my intention to go over the sad incidents that culminated in the final departure of Maneka and the political hypes she tried to build up by projecting herself as a wronged daughter in law. All that I can add that Indira was obsessed with the idea of dynastic succession and her natural choice was her own son, the one who was almost eclipsed by his more aggressive and abrasive younger brother. She had a right to make the crucial choice. Maneka was not ready to take her turn. It was not a clash of personalities. It was a clash of interests and ambition. It would be futile to paint Indira as an aggressive mother in law. She had seen her mother being tortured and insulted. Indira had, I know personally, great regards for women, especially for women in material and mental distress. She was not a tormentor of the young widow of her son. Some scribes and topical historians, however, had tried to paint the Maneka affair with the ‘emergency brush’.

Soon after Maneka contrived her exit from the Safdarjung residence of Indira Gandhi I was directed to mount renewed TechInt and HumInt operations against Amteshwar Anand and Maneka Gandhi.

For some technical reason the IB was not able to hook the residential phone of a close relation of Maneka to its monitoring box. I was directed to bug the target phone and locate a ‘safe house’ to record the transmitted telephone and room conversations. It was an impossible task. Technically the project was viable but logistically it presented insurmountable difficulties.

The house was a hub of major political activities and some of the later day political stalwarts and barons of industry (a governor included) were her regular parlour guests. I had to have the vacant possession of the house at least for two hours to implant the radio devices.

The domestic servant was won over and he offered running commentaries on the happenings inside the residence. An unexpected tip from him that his employer would be out of Delhi for two days offered an opportunity to place the bugs in the target home. The home telephone was ‘rendered dead’ in collusion with the obliging exchange staff and we waited for a call to attend the ‘dead’ phone.

The range of choice of miniature radio microphones was limited. I had opted for two long-range transmitters that would offer the facility of recording room conversations from a safe outpost 150 meters away. I was offered only two short-range devices and asked to ‘find out’ a safe house within 100 meters of the target home.

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