Ravindra Kaushik

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

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 (RAW), India's external intelligence agency. He was contacted and offered a job of being an undercover Indian agent 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, Pakistan.[3] In 1975, at the age of 23, Kaushik was sent to Pakistan on a special mission.[2][1][5]

Kaushik was given the 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.[6] 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][7]

From 1979 to 1983, while working as an officer, he passed on valuable information to RAW which was of great help to the Indian defence forces. He was given the title of 'Black Tiger' by India's then home minister S. B. Chavan.[8]

In September 1983, Indian intelligence agencies sent a low-level operative, Inyat Masih, to get in touch with Kaushik. However, Masih was caught by Pakistan's intelligence agencies and revealed Kaushik's true identity.[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?" (Do people who sacrifice their lives for a big country like India get this?)[2]

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

According to Ravindra's family, Indian government refused to recognise him and 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.[5]

• Sarabjit Singh
• Kashmir Singh
• Kulbhushan Jadhav

• 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.