The Nepal Exposure
Unlike his predecessors who specialised in Pakistan or China, Chaturvedi is the first head of India's Intelligence agency whose area of expertise is Nepal. However, in December 2007 the R&AW Chief faced another embarrassing scandal when the 'Nepal Weekly' magazine revealed that R&AW was trying to interfere in the internal political dynamics of Nepal. The magazine also revealed the names of various R&AW agents working at the Indian embassy in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu which included Suresh Dhundiya, R&AW's station chief in Kathmandu, and his deputies Alok Tiwari posted as First Secretary (Education) and K. V. Johri, a counsellor. It was also publicized that Dhundiya was being replaced as station chief by Alok Joshi. This revelation resulted in Joshi being exposed before he even assumed his new position thus compromising R&AW's intelligence apparatus in Nepal. To make matters worse, Nepalese newspapers were also able to find out the detailed travel plans of Chaturvedi's visit to Nepal in December 2007, including the airline he flew on and which hotel he stayed in.
Chaturvedi forced the interim government of Girija Prasad Koirala to award a contract to an Indian firm for a hydropower project. It has also been alleged that Chaturvedi may have financially benefited personally from the deal. Questions have been raised in India as to why the head of an Indian intelligence agency was promoting a commercial company in Nepal.
The timing of these events coincided with worsening relations between India and Nepal. In a snub to India, Nepal's Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan requested a high level Chinese delegation visiting Kathmandu to extend the Tibet rail into Nepal. The request carries significance against the backdrop of Nepal's warning to India not to go ahead with a proposed highway along the India-Nepal border.
The Telegraph Weekly of Nepal commented that "With R&AW facing continuous debacle in its Nepal affairs, it is highly likely that the R&AW machinery will come in a heavy way in order to regain its lost ground in Nepal. Chaturvedi is being told to pack up by the New Delhi set-up, it is talked".
Read more about this topic: Ashok Chaturvedi