Indian secret agency RAW even spies on friendly countries

LAHORE: What to talk of Pakistan, with whom India has nourished innumerable grudges since the blood-soaked partition in 1947, the spymasters of Research and Intelligence Wing (RAW) have even been spying on countries that enjoy good terms with New Delhi!

Research shows that on August 1, 2014, a 45-year-old Indian national was sentenced to a nine-month jail by a German court for spying on the Sikh community in the country. This incident was even reported by the “Rediff.com”, an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal, founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.

This globally followed Indian media outlet had reported that Ranjit, an electrician, had violated the German law by engaging in espionage operations, and the court had found him guilty on this count.

The “Rediff.com” had stated: “The court said during the trial involving nine days of hearing that the convict had collected information on the Indian community in Germany, especially on Sikh extremist groups, and passed it to an official at the Consulate General of India in Frankfurt. It ruled that the convict committed the offence not only by “gravely disregarding” Germany’s sovereignty but also by cooperating “conspiratorially and actively” with the Indian intelligence agency.”

The “Rediff.com” had added: “Ranjit, who came to Germany in 2002 with a forged passport, had told the court that he was a Sikh and in India he worked as a member of the All India Sikh Students' Federation, which campaigns for an independent state in Punjab.”

In one of its reports on the subject on September 26, 2013, another widely-known and quoted Indian television channel “IBN Live” had said: “Spies - the forgotten warriors of the covert wars. They cross borders to help governments seek vital information and also to carry out secret operations.

Though not remotely as glamorous a profession as cinema would like us to believe, their story takes on darker hues if they happen to be caught in enemy territory. Many don't return and those who do, find themselves shunned and unrecognized by the very people who recruited them.”