Sanjiv Tripathi

Sanjiv Tripathi is an officer with India's external intelligence agency the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW or R&AW). He had previously been an IPS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre. He is the son-in-law of G S Bajpai, RAW chief from 1990 to 1991. Bajpai still holds enormous influence in Uttar Pradesh, a state both the Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party need to do well in for the next general elections Tripathi has been identified as a protégé of RAW Chief Ashok Chaturvedi and is being groomed by him to eventually take over when Chaturvedi retires. Tripathi's case to succeed Chaturvedi could be backed by Uttar Pradesh's political and bureaucratic lobbies. However, as Chaturvedi's name has become repeatedly embroiled in scandals and intelligence failures that have plagued RAW since he became the head of the organization, Tripathi's prospects appear uncertain. He had previously been stationed in Trinidad, Geneva and Mauritius. [ [http://www.metimes.com/International/2007/12/12/indias_spy_agency_blunders_draw_ire/7756/ "India's spy agency blunders draw ire", Middle East Times, December 12, 2007] ] [ [http://www.iiss.org/index.asp?pgid=23627&mtype=print "Manama Dialogue", International Institute For Strategic Studies, December 12, 2007] ] [ [http://ia.rediff.com/news/2008/may/16raw.htm “Race begins to succeed R&AW boss”, May 16, 2008] ]

Because of his close relationship with Chaturvedi, Tripathi would be brought to every meeting he attended and asked to look over sensitive intelligence dossiers despite his lack of experience. Tripathi has been criticized as being only an administrator with no prior intelligence background. This was reflected in his failure to assess the possibility of Pakistani President, Pervez Musharraf, declaring a state of emergency in Pakistan. In fact both Chaturvedi and Tripathi advised the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, that Musharraf would not suspend the constitution and the situation in Pakistan would remain stable. On November 3, 2007, Musharraf suspended the constitution and declared a state of emergency. Manmohan Singh is believed to have been "livid" by the incorrect intelligence assessment he received from Chaturvedi and Tripathi. [ [http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2007/December/opinion_December60.xml&section=opinion&col "A RAW deal", Khaleej Times, December 16, 2007] ] [ [http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/05/29/indias_spy_chief_controversy_continues/8901/ “India's spy chief controversy continues”, Middle East Times, May 29, 2008] ]

Like Chaturvedi, Tripathi is from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which is of enormous political importance during elections because it is the country's most populous state. Tripathi is an administrator and has no experience or expertise of any of India's neighbours. Yet as Chaturvedi has proved, it's not how much you know but who you know. [ [http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/05/29/indias_spy_chief_controversy_continues/8901/ “India's spy chief controversy continues”, Middle East Times, May 29, 2008] ]

On December 8, 2007, at an international conference organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in Manama, Bahrain, Indian National Security Advisor MK Narayanan warned about the threat of international terrorism and its intention to hit at economic targets in the Middle East and South Asia. However, controversially, Chaturvedi and Tripathi took a completely opposite view and decided to downgrade RAW's focus on the threat of terrorism. [ [http://www.iiss.org/index.asp?pgid=23627&mtype=print "Manama Dialogue", International Institute For Strategic Studies, December 12, 2007] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7134884.stm "India issues stark terror warning", BBC News Online, December 8, 2007] ]

Tripathi is also tainted by ‘business activities’ in Mauritius, and Trinidad and Tobago. These activities are coming under scrutiny in an internal probe led by G.B.S. Sidhu, a former special secretary within RAW. Sidhu has been tasked to identify corruption within the organization, and his probe is also looking into allegations of sexual harassment, made by a senior member of the organization about a female employee who was allegedly intimidated and coerced into silence. [ [http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2008/02/06/indias_intel_chief_lacking_intelligence/9650/ “India's intel chief lacking intelligence”, Middle East Times, February 6, 2008] ]

On May 5, 2008, Chaturvedi appointed Tripathi as the head of the Aviation Research Centre, which is a parallel organization within RAW involved in Signals Intelligence. [ [http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/05/29/indias_spy_chief_controversy_continues/8901/ “India's spy chief controversy continues”, Middle East Times, May 29, 2008] ] [ [http://ia.rediff.com/news/2008/may/16raw.htm “Race begins to succeed R&AW boss”, May 16, 2008] ]

On May 13, 2008, nine synchronized bomb blasts targeted Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan state. Over 60 people were killed and some 200 injured. It transpired that a Western intelligence agency had obtained information toward the end of April pointing to the potential of terrorist attacks in a number of Indian cities which included Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Jaipur. The information was passed to Chaturvedi, however, the RAW chief had reduced his work commitments due to his bad health. As a result he left the intelligence assessment to be analyzed by Sanjiv Tripathi. It is alleged that Tripathi either ignored the intelligence assessment or did not view it to be important enough to act upon, as the information was not shared with any of India's other intelligence or police agencies. [ [http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/05/29/indias_spy_chief_controversy_continues/8901/ “India's spy chief controversy continues”, Middle East Times, May 29, 2008] ]

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