Meet the Indian RAW agent who served as a major in the Pakistan army

Ravinder Kaushik was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan in 1952. He was a famous Punjabi theater artist, and won many hearts through his performances. That’s when members of the Indian intelligence agency, RAW, spotted his talent. “It was probably his mono-act in college in which he played an Indian army officer who refused to divulge information to China that caught the attention of intelligence officers,” Ravinder younger brother Rajeshwar Kaushik told Hindustan Times in an interview.

Ravinder was offered the job of an undercover agent of India in Pakistan. After receiving extensive training for two years, in 1975, he was flown to Pakistan. He landed in Pakistan with a fictitious name of Nabi Ahmad Shakir, and got himself enrolled in LLB course in Karachi University. After finishing his graduation, Ravinder joined the Pakistan Army as commissioned officer and got promoted to the post of Major. He even married a local girl and became a father of a girl.

Between 1979 and 1983, Ravinder passed valuable information to RAW that helped in framing the strategies of the Indian defence forces. The spy would have gone on to live forever, but in 1983, an Indian agent called Inayat Masiha, who was caught by Pakistan as he was crossing the border, blew Kaushik’s cover. Ravinder was arrested on charges of espionage and was thrown into a jail in Multan.

Ravinder was soon given death sentence, which was later commuted to a life term by the country’s Supreme court. He remained in jail for the next 18 years. On 21 November 2001, he succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis and passed away. He was buried behind the Multan jail.

Rajeshwar regrets how his brother’s sacrifice has been ignored, both by the government and the people of our country. The meagre pension they received stopped after both his parents passed away in deep despair. According to Daily Bhaskar, in one of his many secret letters which he magically managed to send home, Ravinder had written, “Kya Bharat jaise bade desh ke liye kurbani dene waalon ko yahi milta hai?” (Is this the reward a person gets for sacrificing his life for India?)

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