If [Pannun plot] Happened Ajit [Doval] May've Been in the Know of it: Former R&AW chief AS Dulat

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"If it (the Pannun plot) happened Ajit (Doval) may have been in the know of it": Former Head of R&AW, Amarjit Singh Dulat, to Karan Thapar for The Wire. ........................................... In a comment which many will find surprising and some shocking, but which he repeated several times, Amarjit Singh Dulat, the former Head of R&AW and a close friend and colleague of India’s NSA, Ajit Doval, has said of the Pannun plot, recently covered at length by The Washington Post: “If it happened Ajit may have been in the know of it.” However, Mr. Dulat also went on to say that being “in the know of it” does not mean Mr. Doval “approved of it”. However, this point was made at least on two separate occasions in the interview. Since this is a critical point and one that will attract enormous attention, I will leave you to find out more by watching the interview. I do not wish to run the risk of misconstruing or misquoting Mr. Dulat in any paraphrase or precis. Because I wrote down these precise points and repeated them to Mr. Dulat (and he accepted them) I am happily quoting these to you. However, in a 30-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, to discuss The Washington Post story, Mr. Dulat seemed very reluctant to believe that Samant Goel, who used to be Head of R&AW, would have instructed Vikram Yadav, who the Washington Post alleges asked Nikhil Gupta to arrange the alleged attempted assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Mr. Dulat seemed to suggest that Yadav might have been instructed or authorized by middle-level bosses and not necessarily by the R&AW Chief of the time i.e. Mr. Goel. Again, I will leave you to see the interview to find out what Mr. Dulat says and his precise words. I have not, in this instance, given you any direct quotations. Mr. Dulat said if such an operation had happened – and he repeatedly emphasized the word if – he would not like to believe R&AW could be so “sloppy” to botch it. At one point Mr. Dulat said if it was botched it’s very sad and agreed that that would reflect badly on the organization. Speaking of Vikram Yadav, who The Post identified as the R&AW officer (on secondment from CRPF) who instructed Nikhil Gupta to carry out the aborted attempted assassination, Mr. Dulat asked: “How long has he been with R&AW and what does he know about the organization and its functioning?” Mr. Dulat agreed that an inquiry is essential, adding that since the Prime Minister has ordered one (as revealed to the British paper The Financial Times) he was confident this would happen. Here is the link to the interview: There’s an awful lot more in the interview that will interest and surprise you. I’m deliberately not revealing all of it. Join The Wire's Youtube Membership and get exclusive content, member-only emojis, live interaction with The Wire's founders, editors and reporters and much more. Memberships to The Wire Crew start at Rs 89/month. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWtJey46brNr7qHQpN6KLQ/join