A. G. Noorani: V.K. Singh served as the Chief of the Army Staff from March 31, 2010, to March 30, 2012. A little over a month after he assumed charge, he set up the Technical Support Division (TSD) as a unit under Military Intelligence. P.N. Haksar styled the external intelligence service he set up as the Research and Analysis Wing—some research, some analysis. V.K. Singh chose a similarly innocuous, if misleading, name for his baby. Some key personnel of the Army’s Intelligence Corps were attached to the TSD, which was headed by Colonel Munishwar Nath “Hunny” Bakshi. He handled key operations for which secret service funds were drawn from accounts of State Bank of India. The TSD comprised four officers and about 30 men. Shortly after V.K. Singh demitted office, the TSD was wound up and an inquiry by a Board of Officers on its functioning was set up. It was headed by no less a person than Lieutenant General Vinod Bhatia, D.G. of Military Operations. It submitted its report to the Defence Secretary in March 2013. Ritu Sarin’s report drew on that document’s exposures. They are stunning.
[…] The astute Josy Joseph reported that the TSD “has claimed to have carried out at least eight covert operations in a foreign country” (The Times of India, September 24). It could not have been in Iceland. Did V.K. Singh act thus with the consent of his political masters? The TV channel Headlines Today “accessed” parts of Lt.-Gen. Bhatia’s report of over 200 pages. Its disclosures were precise. Between October and November 2011, the TSD claimed money “to try enrolling the secessionist chief in the province of a neighbouring country” and in early 2011 it claimed an unspecified amount for carrying out eight low-intensity bomb blasts in a neighbouring country” (Sandeep Unnithan and Asit Jolly, India Today; October 7). The veiled reference to Pakistan and its secessionist-torn province of Balochistan deceives none, not even the “nationalists” in the media. The TSD has a wider remit – “countries of interest”. More here.