Yes indeed dear you should be proud of RAW
India's Spy Chief Directly Implicated in Sexual Harassment Charges
By CLAUDE SALHANI (Editor, Middle East Times)Published: August 27, 2008
INDIAN HEADACHE -- Waving green Islamic flags and shouting "we want freedom," tens of thousands of Muslims marched in Indian Kashmir's main city on Aug. 22, resuming some of the biggest protests in two decades against Indian rule. The security situation in Kashmir and elsewhere in India has deteriorated since Chaturvedi took charge of RAW on February 1st 2007. (UPPA/Photoshot via Newscom)
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The tenure of India's chief spy has been anything but what the conduct of a director of the country's counter-intelligence agency should be -- discreet.
Indeed, Ashok Chaturvedi, who heads the Research and Analysis Wing, or as it is commonly called, RAW, has been under the spotlight for some time due to what insiders refer to as his inexperience and unforgiving faux pas, errors in judgment and pitiable analysis of the threat to the country's security.
But if that was not enough for RAW's chief to worry about, on top of all the accusation of mismanagement lobbed at him in the local press and far more damaging reports of incompetence leaked to the Middle East Times, Chaturvedi is now facing a new scandal, one involving possible accusations of sexual harassment.
The latest installment in what has all the makings of a Bollywood super production, Chaturvedi, say insiders to the Middle East Times, has been "relentless" in his "persecution of Nisha Bhatia," a female RAW officer who only a week ago tried to commit suicide outside the Prime Minister's Office.
Bhatia is reported to have attempted to kill herself following alleged efforts to have her dismissed from the service after she allegedly reported incidents of sexual harassment by colleagues.
But now Bhatia revealed that Chaturvedi might also be implicated in the scandal, saying that Chaturvedi may himself have demanded sexual favors from Bhatia.
Bhatia said she now intends to undertake legal action against RAW and Chaturvedi personally. She also filed a complaint with the Parliament Street Police Station officials regarding her harassment, who, under pressure from the RAW chief, are dragging their feet.
The scandal that snowballed into an embarrassing crisis for the Indian government has turned into a national affair, breathing new life into repeated calls for national security advisor, M.K. Narayanan, to fire Chaturvedi, a move that would almost automatically receive the backing of some cabinet members of the Congress-led coalition.
Though Chaturvedi's tenure ends next Jan. 31, there are calls for his immediate sacking.
But Narayanan, said a source familiar with the country's intelligence dossier, has played an interventionist role in intelligence matters, juggling RAW and the Intelligence Bureau (IB), India's domestic spy agency.
One name that keeps cropping up as a replacement for the unpopular Chaturvedi is Nachal Sandhu, an officer serving with the IB.
Sandhu is said to have a "distinguished record" and is an expert on Kashmir and the terrorist groups operating in that troubled region and across the border in neighboring Pakistan.
Sandhu has the advantage of coming from outside RAW and is therefore untainted by the series of scandals that have plagued the external spy agency. Contrary to RAW, the IB has remained away from the public eye and the criticism of the nation's leadership.
Delhi's police commissioner, Yudhvir Singh Dadwal, has been mentioned as another potential candidate to replace Chaturvedi. He holds an impressive service record despite having only held the post since 2007, and had served with RAW earlier in his career.
Chaturvedi stands accused by his many critics of having undone the accomplishments of his predecessors who had gained the respect of Western intelligence agencies and established cordial relations with them.
"That goodwill evaporated when Chaturvedi took over," a source who requested anonymity told the Middle East Times.
Now observers who have been following the RAW scandals fear that the fallout from the Bhatia sex scandal will open "a Pandora's box with new revelations of another senior RAW officer having harassed Bhatia," the source said.
As reported by the Middle East Times on Aug. 21, Bhatia rejected alleged repeated sexual advances from a senior colleague, Sunil Uke, a customs officer assigned to RAW.
In an effort to protect their chief, Chaturvedi's supporters inside the spy agency attempted to defame Bhatia's character by leaking information to the local media and certain branches of government of a previous scandal involving another senior RAW officer, Rana Banerjee, himself a potential replacement at the head of RAW.
Banerjee, is the longest serving Pakistan analyst and the number three in the organization. Sources told the Middle East Times that Banerjee, thought to be "somewhat of a maverick" is an analyst who has never run covert operations.
One source accused him of being "prone to drunken outbursts which have led to some embarrassing moments" at the India International Centre (IIC), a favorite watering hole for politicians, journalists and bureaucrats.
According to a source from the powerful IAS lobby, Banerjee is often seen at the IIC bar "loudly voicing his opinions on a variety of sensitive and classified issues."
"He [Banerjee] has been filling us in on all that's going on in RAW and his mistreatment. He is relying on us for direct support when Chaturvedi goes," the source said.
Ironically, Banerjee and Chaturvedi -- who sources say do not get along -- find themselves in a similar predicament with their careers threatened by the Bhatia affair; incidentally, the future of Sanjiv Tripathi, Chaturvedi's protégé, is also on the line.
One of the sources told the Middle East Times that Chaturvedi's dismissal is being delayed by his relative, B.K. Chaturvedi, the government's chief economic advisor.
"Despite his obvious limitations, Ashok Chaturvedi was elevated to head of RAW in large part because B.K. Chaturvedi was at the time the cabinet secretary and on the panel that selected the head of the external intelligence agency," another source told the Middle East Times.
However, B.K. Chaturvedi is also now in what one analyst termed "a spot of bother." As head of an influential three-member panel, he proposed a rise in oil and diesel prices to meet production costs, while aiming to gradually phase out subsidized domestic cooking gas to households.
These proposals, that were feared would hit the general public hard in the pocket, were vehemently rejected by the trade unions and oil marketing companies. Consequently the government shelved the recommendations, particularly in order to avoid them becoming a negative drag in the 2009 general elections.
The Congress-led government is now facing double trouble with two Chaturvedis.
From his office on the 11th floor of RAW's headquarters, Ashok Chaturvedi has been accused of having pursued "an aggressive, hostile and petty campaign in going after perceived rivals."
But his undoing may in the end come from an unexpected source; a scorned woman who is set to expose many indiscretions that could force him to vacate the 11th floor sooner than he anticipated.
India's Spy Chief Directly Implicated in Sexual Harassment Charges - Middle East Times
as soon as blasts occure Indians itch for blaming ISI. 
you mean Indian Muslims are terrorists ????
