cher@ihlpm.UUCP (Mike Cherepov) (02/07/85)
----- Recently there appeared a story about a fellow that was selling Indian secrets to both East and West. I was wondering about the nature of the info he was selling: it is an important clue to the interests of ths superpowers in that country as well as to other things. It is unlikely that the object of espionage was hi-tech warfare info: India can not match the pace of military research by USSR, let alone US. Conventional military info is valuable to Pakistan, China, other neighbors, but was it worth the risk to West Germany and Poland? Or did they pass it along to more interested players in the region? Or was it just "keeping in touch" politically, with intent to be able to influence the Indian political situation when the time is "right"? Does anybody know the details of the whole story? Mike Cherepov
prakash@alberta.UUCP (PRAKASH B.K.) (02/08/85)
> > ----- > > > Does anybody know the details of the whole story? > No secret is the whole secret.
jis1@ahuta.UUCP (j.mukerji) (02/08/85)
REFERENCES: <127@ihlpm.UUCP> I was in India when the spy scandal broke. My understanding is that the information that was being passed out related to the plans of the Government of India for the modernization of the armed forces and the telecommunication system, and perhaps info on what kind of incentives to appropriate government officials could clinch a large sale of arms or communication equipment to the Govt. of India. As far as I can tell it did not have much to do with selling the secrets of the east to the west and vice-versa. India is in the market for buying technology to modernize its defence and communication systems. Countries like France, Japan and the USSR are vying with each other to get a piece of the pie, because a lot of these purchases are going to be in hard currency. It is already known that a French and a Russian deplomat have been declared persona-non-grata in connection with this scandal. Also a large number (22?) of relatively high level secretaries in the Prime Ministers secretariate and several other strategic ministries have been arrested. In this connection, one may recall that India signed a large contract for telephone equipment with CIT-Alcatel sometime back over the strainous objections of many technocrats. There was an interesting article on that deal in one of the issues of India Today last year (I don't recall which at this moment). Any further information on this will be most appreciated. Jishnu Mukerji
murthy@uiucdcsb.UUCP (02/11/85)
I was also in India when the spy scandal broke out. My understanding (based on the reports in the South Indian newspaper `the Hindu') is that it is more extensive and deep rooted than what is mentioned in the earlier response. Govt. documents on every policy decision have been passed out -- including but not limited to Srilanka Tamils situation, Pakistan's Nuclear research, and Punjab & Assam situations. Also, the French diplomat was allegedly working for CIA. Later on from a news bulletin here in USA I learnt that the spy ring has been operating for nearly past 25 years.
amitabha@rochester.UUCP (Amitabha Mukhopadhyay) (02/15/85)
In article <141700001@uiucdcsb.UUCP> murthy@uiucdcsb.UUCP writes: > > ... the spy scandal is more extensive and deep rooted than what > is mentioned in the earlier response. > >Govt. documents on every policy decision have been passed out >-- including but not limited to Srilanka Tamils situation, >Pakistan's Nuclear research, and Punjab & Assam situations. > >Also, the French diplomat was allegedly working for CIA. > The spy scandal was described on BBC as one of the major espionage operations in modern history. What is despicable is that all these documents were passed out for sometimes as low as fifty Rs (5$) or a bottle of whisky; in some instances, the documents would reach the foreign agent even before the intended officer had had an opporunity to see it. The details are is largely shrouded in mystery, since official releases are practically nonexistent. However speculation has it that info were being transmitted mostly to Eastern block nations and arms suppliers. Recent reports have stated that CIA may not have been involved. According to "Le Monde", Col. Bolley, the French Embassy Attache who was asked to leave, 'would never stoop to serve for the CIA' ... take that with a suitable allowance for French pride. However, France at least seems to have been particularly embarrassed by the whole incident. Also, there seems to be some dearth of hard evidence in prosecuting the people involved. The case rests largely on the evidence of several turned-witnesses. As the in camera case continues, the news agencies are trying to reconstruct whatever details they can. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amitabha Mukerjee (khuto) <amitabha@rochester.arpa> Here's to you and here's to me And I hope we never disagree, But if we do then to heck with YOU, And here's to ME! -------------------------------------------------------------------------