Rabinder Singh was an Indian civil servant and military officer, who has served as a Joint Secretary of the

Research and Analysis Wing The Research and Analysis Wing (abbreviated R&AW; hi, ) is the foreign intelligence agency of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, an ...

(R&AW). He defected to the United States in 2004.

Defection claims

Singh initially served in the Indian Army, reaching the rank of

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. He later volunteered to join R&AW. It has been alleged that he fell for a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

honey-trap, likely either at the R&AW station in Damascus or Hague during the early 1990s by a female case officer of the CIA.Rabinder Singh, spy who defected to US, is no more: Double agent lived his last years as a remorseful recluse
First Post, 7 July 2018. According to reports, he attracted attention from counter-intelligence officials when he was found photocopying documents not related to his work. After coming under suspicion, he was placed under surveillance and his phone conversations were tapped, but in May 2004, he disappeared. He is suspected of having escaped to the U.S. via Nepal. In ''Mission R&AW'', a book written by a former R&AW officer, it is claimed that Singh flew to America from Kathmandu along with his wife on 7 May 2004 using a fake identity in the name of Mr and Mrs Rajpal Prasad Sharma. Prabhu Chawla, writing in the New Indian Express stated that R&AW had managed to get copies of their visas and embarkation cards prior to take off. These documents reveal that the CIA, on 7 April 2004, issued US passport number 017384251 to Singh. His wife Parminder Kaur was also given a US passport on the same day in the name of Deepa Kumar Sharma. Both boarded Austrian Air flight number 5032 on 7 May 2004, from Kathmandu. He was assisted by CIA operative David M Vacala.

Tracking in the USA by R&AW

In 2007, in an affidavit submitted to the court, R&AW deposed that Singh has been traced to New Jersey. It is believed that, meanwhile, Singh has filed for asylum in US, under the name of Surenderjeet Singh, which was rejected by the trial court of India but remanded back for reconsideration by the court of appeals. There has been no official proof however that Surenderjeet Singh is an alias of Rabinder Singh. Reports suggest Singh left his role under ambiguous circumstances in 2004, amidst allegations of intelligence ties with the CIA. Subsequent narratives, including claims from a former R&AW officer's book, provided varying accounts of Singh's journey post-2004.

Death controversy

According to Indian government sources, he was killed in Maryland in the USA in a road accident in late 2016. He was living there as a refugee, having been cash-strapped after the CIA had stopped paying him money. US intelligence had blocked his application for asylum and his attempts to obtain a job with a think tank run by a former CIA senior officer were blocked too.

External sources

Detailed news report on Rabinder Singh

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Ravinder Defectors to the United States Indian defectors People of the Research and Analysis Wing Indian Army officers Indian government officials Indian civil servants