15 Amazing Facts about First Spymaster of India: R.N. Kao
Do you know that India’s external intelligence Agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) is considered one of the best in the world? It was established in 1968 and the man behind its success is said to be Rameshwar Nath Kao, who is said to be the first spymaster of India and one of the best in the world. He was responsible for many secret missions that helped India to win decisive battles and wars.
And there are some amazing facts about this man that will blow you away.
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Early life of R.N. Kao
R. N. Kao was born in Varanasi, UP on 10 May 1918 to a Kashmiri Pandit family who immigrated from Srinagar district. He was brought up by his uncle and did his schooling from Baroda. He did his Bachelor of Arts degree from Lucknow University and master’s degree in English Literature in Allahabad University.
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IPS
Though very little is known about the life of R.N. Kao but he started his career by joining Indian Imperial Police in 1940 after passing competitive examinations. In 1947 India achieved Independence and R.N. Kao was given first major responsibility. On the eve of Independence, Kao was deputed to the newly formed Intelligence Bureau (I.B.).
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Protecting the Prime Minister!
R. N. Kao was assigned to head the security of VIPs. At one point, he was the head of security of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru.
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Handpicked by Indra Gandhi
After the 1965 war, it was a wake-up call for the Indian Defence Forces. There was a need for an agency that could get intelligence from foreign soil. The result was the establishment of R&AW and 250 personnel were handpicked by Indra Gandhi. R.N. Kao was given the task to lead them. The total budget was just 2 Crore.
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The Kaoboys
The agents which were involved in the most dangerous and covert operations worked directly under the guidance of R. N. Kao. He was an expert when it comes in guiding the missions and collecting intel. For decades, he operated and the agents who were his disciples came to be known as ‘Kaoboys’.
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East Pakistan freed by R&AW
Under Kao, India provided support to the freedom fighters of Mukhti Bahini in Bangladesh and helped them defeat Pakistan in Operation Searchlight. It was the first major victory of R&AW. It is said that the intelligence provided by the agencies were so good that they could pinpoint the exact location of the cabinet meeting and bomb the exact point and Navy could destroy every Pakistani ship.
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Enemy of an Enemy is friend
Israel and India were suffering the same problems at that time but MOSSAD, the intelligence agency of Israel was much better than of India. R.N. Kao did not hesitate to provide bilateral support to Israel. It was a time when the mention of Israel was a taboo in India.
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Contacts all over the world
R.N. Kao had strong connections in almost all of the countries. He was said to have strong contacts all over the world that with one phone call he could move things that could result deadly for the enemy!
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Sikkim became a part of India
Sikkim was previously a monarchy but had protection from India. In 1973, riots broke out in Sikkim against the rule and 1975 the prime minister of Sikkim requested India to make Sikkim its part. The Army, however, faced resistance from the royal guards of Sikkim. The Chinese were also closing but it was the operations of Kaoboys that helped Indian Army to make Sikkim a state of India.
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Morarji Desai’s fear of Kao
Morarji Desai came to power after Emergency. He was suspicious of Kao working for Indra Gandhi. Hence, it was difficult for him to trust Kao. He was partially right as Indra Gandhi allegedly used some R&AW agents to spy on the politicians during the time of Emergency. However, he paid a large price for not trusting him.
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The Blunder of Indian PM
Kaoboys knew a lot about the development of Nuclear Program of Pakistan. It took Kao years to place people into the right place in Pakistan and had a lot of intel on it. Indian PM Morarji Desai when talking to his Pakistani counterpart, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on phone foolishly revealed that India knew about the nuclear program. This led to the elimination of all the deeply placed assets and Pakistan successfully conducted the test.
Disturbed by it, Kao left the R&AW and never returned.
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Best in the world
In 1982, Alexandre de Marenches, head of the French external intelligence agency, or SDECE, counted Kao among the top five intelligence chiefs in the world of the 70s. He was considered to be one of the best spy trainers who had an exceptional gift of successfully leading the operations.
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Founding National Security Guards
Kao returned in the intelligence circuit as the security advisor to the Indira Gandhi’s government after the Indian PM returned to power. He also served in the same position for her son, Late PM Rajiv Gandhi. He founded the National Security Guards as he sensed a need for a special force unit. NSG is now considered one of the best special forces in the world.
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Retirement
R.N. Kao retired in 1989. He was active for the cause of Kashmiri Pandit and met many diplomats and politicians for it. He lived a very private life post retirement, it was so private that he was only photographed twice after that. He did not write a book probably because he knew too much. He died in 2002 and despite his large political circle, his funeral was attended by close frineds and family.
He was known to be a team player and credited the success to his colleagues but took the blame on himself for a failure. He was the best teacher and mentor of R&AW. His close friend, B. Raman later wrote a book on him and his work in R&AW. He was a true hero who did not sought any recognition and worked for the best interest of the nation.
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