Ravindra Kaushik

Ravindra Kaushik
Born	(1952-04-11)11 April 1952 Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, India
Died	November 2001(2001-11-00) (aged 49) Central Jail Mianwali, Pakistan
Other names	Black Tiger
Alma mater	University of Karachi
Known for	Spying for R&AW
Criminal charge	Espionage
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment
Spouse	Amanat ​ (m. 1976)​
Children	1
Espionage activity
Allegiance	India
Agency	Research and Analysis Wing
Service years	1975–1983
Alias	Nabi Ahmed Shakir

Ravindra Kaushik (11 April 1952 – 21 November 2001) was an Indian Research and Analysis Wing agent who spied for India from 1975 until he was captured in 1983. Also known as The Black Tiger, Kaushik is considered as one of India's greatest spies. He successfully infiltrated the Pakistan Army and reached the rank of major.

Early life

Ravindra Kaushik was born in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan on 11 April, 1952. His father, J. M. Kaushik, was an Indian Air Force officer; his mother Amla Devi died in 2006. He graduated from S. D. Bihani P. G. College, Sri Ganganagar, earning a B.Com. Kaushik was also involved with theatre acting and debates while in college when he was recruited by the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

Recruitment in the Research and Analysis Wing

Kaushik was trained in Delhi for two years to be an undercover operative in Pakistan. He was also trained to live as a Muslim and was taught the Urdu language. 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) and Pakistan as well. In 1975, at the age of 23, he was sent to Pakistan.

Activities in Pakistan

Kaushik converted to Islam, underwent circumcision and was given the cover name "Nabi Ahmed Shakir". After successfully getting admission in Karachi University, he completed his LL.B. After his graduation, he joined the Pakistan Army as a commissioned officer and was eventually promoted to the rank of major. He married a local girl named Amaanat and fathered a boy, who died in 2012–2013.

From 1979 to 1983, Kaushik worked as a Pakistani army officer, sending valuable information to R&AW. He was given the title of 'The Black Tiger' by then Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi.

Death and aftermath

In September 1983, R&AW sent a low-level operative, Inyat Masih, to make contact with Kaushik. But Masih was exposed by the Joint Counter-Intelligence Bureau of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and blew Kaushik's cover. Kaushik was captured, and tortured for two years at an interrogation center in Sialkot. He was sentenced to death in 1985; his sentence was later commuted to a life term by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. He was kept in various jails in several cities, including Sialkot, Kot Lakhpat and in Mianwali jail, for 16 years. He managed to secretly send letters to his family in India, which revealed his poor health and the trauma he faced 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?)

In November 2001, he died of pulmonary tuberculosis and heart disease in Central Jail Mianwali in Pakistan. According to Kaushik's family, the Indian government had refused to recognise him and had made no effort to help him.

Kaushik's family claimed that the storyline of the Bollywood film Ek Tha Tiger released in 2012 was based on the life of Kaushik, and asked for credit in the movie titles for Kaushik. But the director, Kabir Khan, denied their claim.

See also

• Sarabjit Singh
• Kashmir Singh
• Kulbhushan Jadhav

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.