Ravindra Kaushik

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Ravindra Kaushik
Former R&AW agent Ravi
Ravindra Kaushik
Born(1952-04-11)11 April 1952[1]
Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India
DiedNovember 2001(2001-11-00) (aged 49)[2]
Central Jail Mianwali, Pakistan
NationalityIndian
Other namesBlack Tiger
Alma materUniversity of Karachi
Known forspying for R&AW
Criminal charge(s)Espionage
Criminal penaltyLife imprisonment
Spouse(s)
Amanat
​
(m. 1976)​
Children1
Espionage activity
Allegiance India
AgencyResearch and Analysis Wing
Service years1975–1983
AliasNabi Ahmed Shakir

Ravindra Kaushik (11 April 1952 – November 2001) was a Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) operative.[2][3][4] Famously known as Black Tiger, he is believed as India's one of the best spies to ever penetrate the commissioned officer ranks of the Pakistan armed forces.[5]

Kaushik spied for R&AW against Pakistan from 1979 to 1983.

Early life[]

Ravindra Kaushik was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan on 11 April 1952 in a Brahmin family.[6] He also did his graduation from there.[1] [7]

Recruitment in Research and Analysis Wing[]

Kaushik displayed his talent at the national level dramatic meet in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, which was witnessed by officials from the Research and Analysis Wing. He was contacted and offered a job of being an undercover Operative in Pakistan.

Kaushik was given extensive training in Delhi for two years. He underwent circumcision so he could pass as a Muslim. He was taught Urdu, given Islamic religious education and acquainted with the topography and other details about Pakistan. Being from Sri Ganganagar, a city near Rajasthan's border with Punjab, he was well versed in Punjabi, which is widely understood in Punjab, India.[3] In 1975, at the age of 23, He was sent to Pakistan.[2][1][8]

Activities in Pakistan[]

Kaushik was given the cover name "Nabi Ahmed Shakir" and entered Pakistan in 1975.[3] He was successful in getting admission in Karachi University and completed his LLB. He joined Pakistan Army as a commissioned officer and eventually promoted to the rank of a major.[9] He soon married a local girl named Amanat, the daughter of a tailor in one of the army units, and fathered a boy who died in 2012–2013.[3][10]

From 1979 to 1983, while working as an officer, he passed on valuable information to R&AW which was of great help to India. He was given the title of 'Black Tiger' by India's then home minister late S. B. Chavan.[11]

Death and aftermath[]

In September 1983, R&AW sent a low-level operative, Inyat Masih, to get in touch with Kaushik. However, Masih was caught by Joint Counterintelligence Bureau of Pakistan's ISI and blew Kaushik's cover.[2] Kaushik was then captured, tortured for two years at an interrogation center in Sialkot. He was given the death sentence in 1985. His sentence was later commuted to a life term by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He was kept in various jails in various cities, including Sialkot, Kot Lakhpat and in Mianwali jail for 16 years.[3] He managed to secretly send letters to his family in India, which revealed his poor health condition and the trauma faced by him in Pakistani jails. In one of his letters he wrote:

Kya Bharat jaise bade desh ke liye kurbani dene waalon ko yahi milta hai?" (Is this what people who sacrifice their lives for a big country like India get?)[2]

In November 2001, he succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis and heart disease in Central Jail Mianwali in Pakistan.[2]

According to Ravindra's family, Indian government had refused to recognise him and had made no effort to help him.[2]

Ravindra's family claimed that the storyline of the famous Bollywood flick "Ek Tha Tiger" released in the year 2012 was based on the life of Ravindra and asked for the credit in the movie titles for Ravindra.[8]

See also[]

Further reading[]

  • S Hussain Zaidi; Brijesh Singh (2018). Dangerous Minds: Eight Riveting Profiles of Homegrown Terrorists. Penguin Random House. pp. 61–63. ISBN 978-93-86495-99-0.
  • Presley Thomas (6 December 2009). "The real life behind a 2002 spy thriller". Hindustan Times.

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Salman Khan's new movie in controversy again". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "India's forgotten spy – Agent's family fights an impossible battle". Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Late spy's kin fight for reel life credit". Archived from the original on 24 August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ Osman, Ali (19 May 2017). "A history of Indian spies in Pakistan". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Story of RAW agent, Ravinder Kaushik, who worked as a Pakistan Army Major - Forgotten hero". The Economic Times. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
  6. ^ Umak, Lokesh. "Ravindra Kaushik on sacrificing his life for India". LEKH. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  7. ^ rashid, sumaira. "Ravindra Kaushik, 'The Black Tiger'- India's Greatest Spy". The Indianness. Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Dead RAW agent's nephew takes Salman's Ek Tha Tiger producers to court". Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  9. ^ "Story of RAW agent, Ravinder Kaushik, who worked as a Pakistan Army Major - Forgotten hero". The Economic Times. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  10. ^ "The real life behind a 2002 spy thriller". Hindustan Times. 6 December 2009. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  11. ^ "Ek Tha Tiger: Not Salman Khan, meet the real Indian Tiger!". Retrieved 17 August 2012.
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