CBI 5

രാജീവ് ഗാന്ധി വധം അന്വേഷിച്ച രാധാവിനോദ് രാജുവിന്റെ കഥയോ സിബിഐ 5 ?-https://www.manoramaonline.com/movies/movie-news/2022/04/11/cbi-to-nia-the-gandhi-family-connection.html Malayala Manorama 11/04/2022

Remembering Radha Vinod Raju: A Rare Security Expert, Fine Professional

 July 27, 2017,

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Radha Vinod Raju, founding Director-General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and key member of the special investigation team which probed Rajiv Gandhi assassination, would have turned 67 today. Born on July 27, 1949 in Kochi, Kerela, Raju joined the Indian Police Service in 1975 as Jammu and Kashmir cadre batch, and from the very start of his career in police, he was handed over the baton to fight terror in India.

In J&K, Raju acquired a formidable reputation, where he served as Senior Superintendent of Police in Jammu, Deputy-Inspector General of Anantnag, Inspector-General of the Jammu zone and Vigilance Commissioner.

The high point came, in 1990, after the first terrorist attacks in Jammu, where he succeeded in tracking down the main suspect on the basis of the thinnest evidence, as he was bestowed with an unusual knack for dogged investigation in the most adverse circumstances. It was indeed an exceptional piece of detective work.

On 19 January 2009, he was appointed as the first chief of India’s National Investigation Agency. Though, he died young, Mr. Raju was a boon for the police fraternity across India as he played a vital role in shaping the minds on young police recruits who got a chance to work under his able guidance. The break-thoughs police garnered during his tenure are relevant till date, lest we forget the transnational terrorism-related investigations in the wake of the 26/11 attacks.

Today, on his 67th birthday, Mr. Raju’s colleagues remember him as a soft-spoken and an exemplary officer par excellence.

A former colleague, Dr Ashok Bhan, IPS said: “ My tributes to Raju sahib… a friend and a singer who spoke out his heart in his renderings like a small boy”.

Farooq Ahmad, retired IG, while remembering Mr. Raju said that “Raju was a leader, mentor, teacher and above all a friend. A good human being, a commodity very rare these days . It is very difficult to forget his memories for those whose life he touched in some way.”

Sh Sabharwal, ex-DGP J&K police said “Raju was unforgettable, and irrepressible soul, and he will always remain in our minds and thoughts. J&K police family will always remember his exemplary conduct and deeds”.

“Mr. Raju” tells a close friend and ex-Dgp of Jammu and Kashmir police, Mr Gopal Sharma,  “was soft spoken, ever smiling, caring, thorough professional and a person who could stand by what is right. He was an epitome of simplicity. He came out of his comfort zone as special director CBI and strived tirelessly to build a strong foundation for the NIA. Still remember the last breakfast at Sarvanna Bhavan, CP before he chose to leave the mortal world.”

“Mr. Radha Vinod Raju was a great personality and a perfect police officer as well. His contribution to my development has been immense… A man with a great heart, he inspired me and stood by me always. Happy Birthday wherever you are, forever grateful!” shares Mr. Loknath Behra, DGP Kerela, who worked closely with him at NIA.

“A great human being. One of the humblest and affectionate persons I have known. So full of life. He will continue to live in all of us.”, said SJM Gillani, Director, JK Vigilance, who worked with Mr. Raju during his deputation to CBI.

https://u4uvoice.com/remembering-radha-vinod-raju-a-rare-security-expert-fine-professional/

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To Sir, With A Prayer…

MARCH 31, 2016  DEATH AND LIFE, 

I met Shri Radha Vinod Raju IPS for the first time during a friend’s wedding almost a decade ago. Being from the same state, I spoke to him delightedly in Malayalam , to which he responded warmly. I was a rookie probationer in the Indian Administrative Services, he was a very respected senior IPS officer whose name was known by anyone familiar with the murder investigation of Shri Rajiv Gandhi. Besides, his brilliant stint as a CBI officer in Kerala had inspired superhit movies in my state, like Oru CBI DiaryKuruppu (From the diary of CBI), and for any aspiring civil servant, he stood as an epitome of   brilliance, dignity, grace and incorruptible integrity and inspiration.

I met him again in Mussoorie during a training stint years later, when he charmed everyone around with his fine articulation (he knew almost six languages) and charismatic personality. He remained etched in my memory as what an officer should aspire to be- a  personality to remember as a role model,  when one gets depressed by cynicism and selfishness all around.

And then came the news of his untimely demise at the age of 62, when he was heading  a prestigious assignment at the NIA. He had passed away due to lung complications as per the news reports. Why do God call the best and finest so fast back to his abode, I remember wondering that day.

Today, I read an article in my mother tongue by a revered oncologist and Vinod Raju Sir’s college mate, Dr. P.V.Gangadharan who treated him, about the humility of this officer who sat waiting outside the doctor’s chamber like umpteen ordinary patients, without ever trying to send in a paper of introduction, even as he headed a top agency of the nation. He writes about the contrast shown by many people who barge their way inside , demanding immediate treatment and consideration. The cancer specialist, famed for his career as a compassionate care giver and leader in his field, reflects on the finer qualities of humanity- that which respects another’s rights as much as those of his own self. Why are we teaching self centred behaviour to our children,  he asks, when such personalities too lived amidst us, showing the way?

http://digitalpaper.mathrubhumi.com/764272/Trivandrum/MARCH-31,-2016#page/22/2

The Memories – that will endure

Big Fish.  A nondescript movie from long ago, very dissimilar to what we are experiencing, yet so apt for the moment. Who was this man that so many loved and admired? What were his qualities that he never spoke about, yet had so much of an impact on all around him? Have we understood all that was special about him?

The movie is about a grown up son and his dying father. The son has grown up listening to father’s stories from his eventful life - of wondrous places, brave acts and fabulous people. The son – unsure if these stories were myth or reality – comes to his father’s death bed, struggling to put everything together and understand who his father really was. The penultimate scene is a wonderful one, where everything falls in place. It is his father’s funeral, and all the protagonists from his father’s many stories have come to pay their respect. It is then that he realizes that all the surreal, the bizarre, the fantastic stories were all indeed true – and what a truly great person his father was. The many people he helped, his brave acts and the many lives he touched. When I entered the house, I was reminded of this scene. The many police officers, movie personalities, eminent citizens, old friends and grieving family members were all testimony of a larger than life person. The many lives that he touched, the countless people he helped, the numerous friends he had, all clamored loudly through the silence in the house. While we had heard a few vignettes, the thronging mourners spoke of the volumes that we never heard. Each had something to tell – of bravery, of love, of loyalty, of compassion, of devotion. So many stories, of this multi-faceted man, that he was too humble to tell and we were too busy to ask. Amazing episodes from the life of this wonderful man, whom we had all come to love, admire and respect. And now that he is not amongst us, we might never hear these wonderful chapters. He wanted to write a book to share his experiences, but now, memories is all we will have to hold on to.

In the last scene the son completes his father’s final story. By now, the son knows that his father is a unique person and he wants his father’s last act to be memorable. The son carries his father to the lake, where he – magically – morphs into a big fish and swims away happily …. cheered on by all who shared his life, as his son looks on proudly.  A happy ending to a life well lived. It is said that our life must be evaluated only when we die. The emotions, respect and adulation were a testament to a life spent helping others. As we bid you goodbye, we wish you would have chosen to stay a bit longer. But as we look on, happy to have shared a small part of your life, and see you gently glide away, we know you will always be in our midst and continue to inspire us. We cannot be sad. Yours was a life to celebrate and to emulate.

“A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal”

Venky Nayar

He Lives On

 Radhavinod Raju

 (27 July 1949-21 June 2012)

                 Though he was well-known and came with a formidable reputation of solving the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, FORCE first got to know Radhavinod Raju in July 2006. He was then the additional director general of Jammu and Kashmir police. For a mere three year old magazine, getting senior bureaucrats or serving officers to give interviews was not simple.

But Raju was an officer in a different class. Simply based on a few old issues, he agreed to answer FORCE questions over the email. Not having met the journalist sending him the questions, he did not fear

misrepresentation. Later he said that not only was he confident his words could not be twisted, he also felt he could trust the publication.

FORCE sent him a congratulatory email once he became the first director general of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and he promptly replied but declined a meeting explaining that it would not be appropriate. No mail sent to him went unanswered. Perhaps, he believed that saying things upfront worked better than hedging.

FORCE finally met him in March 2011 upon his retirement from NIA. Having settled in Cochin, instead of looking for post-retirement rehabilitation with the government of India, he was in Delhi for a seminar. Within minutes of the meeting he agreed to write for FORCE, though he was not sure he would be able to do so every month. But not only did he write every month, he needed neither an idea for the subject of his article nor reminders of deadlines. When FORCE asked him for a short biographical sketch to go with his debut column, he only mentioned his tenures in JKP, CBI and NIA, leaving out assignments which helped build his reputation.

The news of his death came as a shock. Despite ailing for a while, he neither missed a deadline nor made a mention about his condition. Unfortunately, FORCE did not get the opportunity to interact more closely with him. We only knew him through his thoughts and writings. But here is what two people who have worked with him and known him closely have to say about him.

I first met Radhavinod Raju, exactly a year ago, in Cambridge, Mass, where we were co-participants in a Harvard workshop. I was struck by his warm, simple and straightforward demeanour and we struck a few common chords; he had served many years in J&K, where I grew up, and I lived in Goa, where he started his career in banking. Unassuming to fault, Vinod rarely spoke of his own achievements and it was only when we met again in the Naresh Chandra Task Force that I learned about his outstanding career and formidable reputation as a super cop: in J&K, in Kerala, In the Karthikeyan SIT and as the founder Director General of NIA. A thorough professional and a warm and modest human being; it will be always my  regret that I knew Vinod for just a year.

                                                                                                                   Admiral Arun Prakash (retd)

I had the opportunity of knowing Mr Raju as DIG of South Kashmir when I was posted as a sub divisional police officer in Srinagar. It was rare during those times to find police officers actively involved in anti-militancy operations. Mr Raju’s pleasing personality and boyish looks were always very inspiring during those rather depressing times.

I really got to know him well when he returned after investigating the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Those days I was under  a cloud, which I often am, for my rather outspoken ways. Mr Raju was a great source of strength. He encouraged me not to get demoralised. I do remember once he took me with him to Srinagar on his birthday, cooked dinner for me and sang ‘Saranga Teri Yaad Mein’ during the course of our rather private party.

Mr Raju was an extremely principled man, who would not succumb to any pressure. He became an inspiration to professionals who could understand that sycophancy is not required if you can remain a professional. He was very self-effacing, never took any credit and always deflected attention from himself. That perhaps explains why his death came as a shock; he would never talk of himself.

I never had the opportunity of working under him but remained attached with him for a few months which gave me an  opportunity  of being his sounding board. His attention to detail made him  a very competent investigator. It was this ability that brought financial investigation skills to the Jammu and Kashmir Police. In an important investigation against a prominent personality he brought to the fore tax evasion and bribe money being covered up as business transactions. I observed the investigations and saw how he taught us to trace transactions.

He was a great leader, a good and patient teacher. I and many others should be beholden to him for his personal support in times of crises. He allowed past good records to commensurate for a mistake, a trait that is rare.

                                                            Shiv Murari Sahai, Inspector General of Police, Kashmir Range
Force Magazine July 2012

Radha Vinod Raju: A Tribute

D Suba ChandranDirector, IPCS 
email: subachandran@gmail.com

Early this morning (21 June 2012), I received a text message from someone we both know well that you are no more with us. We did find out a few days earlier that you were fighting a lung infection. To be honest, I did not take it too seriously. What could a lung infection do, when you have fought the various militant groups in J&K during the peak of militancy during the 1990s, and chased the LTTE killers of Rajiv Gandhi all over South India during your different postings? It took time for me to realize that you are not with us anymore.

Sir, you were a sincere and honest police officer of the J&K cadre. Although I met you much later in my research career, I became familiar with your name during my field research work. Your name would repeatedly crop up amongst the Kashmiris and the rest of J&K in reference by the locals to the few honest officers in the state. This was perhaps why you were chosen as one of the first Central Vigilance Commissioners of the state.

More than the sincerity and honesty, you believed in the J&K police (JKP), even during its worst time, especially when it was going through a tough phase in the 1990s and the early part of the last decade. You sincerely believed that the change could come, mainly through the local police and not through the para-military or military. In fact, you believed this to be true in any other conflict situation within India -whether in the Northeast or in the Naxal region – that change could come only through the local police. How perceptive you were!

One of your great regrets was that the other state police forces had not tapped the potential of the JKP to learn from the Kashmiri experience. You did not believe in keeping the experience and knowledge that you have gained a secret – both personally and professionally. You always wanted others to learn from the mistakes, failures and successes of the JKP.

Sir, you were also a great man of details, with an elephantine memory. You could explain every incident in three dimensions (at times, even in multi-dimensions), taking the listener to the actual time and place, though it might have taken place ten or fifteen years earlier. Who was standing were? What was he/she wearing? Who were accompanying the person in the discussion? What was the climate? What did the person say and how did the others present respond to it? You would recollect every single detail of what happened in Anantnag, when you were serving as the DIG, or in Bangalore, when you were chasing the killers of Rajiv Gandhi. You were a man of minute details.

When the book on Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination was being compiled almost ten years after the investigation was over, you would remember every single detail, every place, every street and corner, every vehicle and its make, every interrogator and his/her background, every tip, whether successful or unsuccessful.

You also believed in thorough investigation. More importantly, ‘fair’ investigation. You would repeatedly stress that the success of countering militancy lies in methodic investigation, leading to a successful trial and legal indictment. In fact you would always say that the real fight is not on the streets or in jungles with militants. You would repeat without fail, as if it was the most important commandment in your personal bible – that the change would come with thorough and methodic investigation leading to a fair trial.

Perhaps this self-imposed commandment was the primary reason for your success and that of your team in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. Though I sensed a kind of admiration in you for the LTTE for being an effective organization, you always considered it a murderous terrorist organisation. Of course, you would never let you personal likes and admiration colour your professional judgment. Your colleagues in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) would tell stories about your passion and search for small details, which helped not only to crack a blind assassination case, but would also provide enough evidence before the court to obtain justice through impeccable investigation. It is no wonder then that you were chosen as the first Director General of India's National Investigation Agency (NIA).

More importantly, Sir, you were a great human being. When I met you for the first time, just as a student from JNU and a researcher from the IPCS, you led me into your office as if you were meeting Huntington! You would receive an amateur journalist and a leading political leader with the same smile and warmth. You remained a simple person, even though the office and the chair you were holding were really imposing. You never let your chair dictate your mind. 

And when you retired, after being the first director of the newly formed NIA, you transformed into a scholar with just as much ease. In your multiple writings for the IPCS, one could easily see the importance you would give to details and minutiae, without missing the larger picture. In fact, there would be volumes of correspondence between you and the IPCS editorial board before the publication of your essays - for you, every word had a meaning and every sentence was placed in a particular sequence. 

One big regret I will always personally have, as will my Institute, is that we could not tap the scholar in you sufficiently. Yes, Sir, you were a scholar-police man. You believed that policing does not only involve addressing a law and order situation or militancy. When many believed in keeping their knowledge gain a secret and kept reports totally classified, you believed in communicating and also learning from the experiences of others. You were the brain behind initiating a dialogue between the JKP and IPCS as a part of reaching out to the rest of world and also in turn learning from them. You believed in openness and learning from others. You not only believed, but also took steps to implement what you believed. The reports that IPCS has published on the interactions in J&K would stand as living proof.

And finally, you were a great friend to your colleagues and an absolute team player. You walked with a small group of titans in J&K, at a time when there was pettiness surrounding you in the state. You worked as a team with some great minds in contemporary J&K. You found the team, or the team found you – either way, you worked together with much passion, energy, enthusiasm and warmth. The peace dividend in J&K today is the result of the turn around you helped bring along with the rest in your team. Yet, like the other titans who silently worked for this change, you would remain in the background and let others bask in the glory that is rightly yours.

Besides working with your contemporaries the J&K and elsewhere in the rest of India, you also always ensured that there was a smooth transition. You identified a few young officers, invested in and nurtured them. They are your legacy today. And is there a better compliment to anyone than to have a legacy? Yes, you may have come from the backwaters of Kerala but you managed to make a mark in the Himalayas, and leave a lasting legacy.

Who says that you have left us? Though we will miss your smile, your warmth, your insistence for details in seminar rooms, your illustrious contributions to the ACSA programme at the IPCS, we know that your presence will always be felt. We are proud of you, Sir.

IPCS 22 June 2012

Radha Vinod Raju: a rare security expert, fine professional

Posted on: 21 Jun 2012

M.R. Narayan Swamy:

He was a devout Hindu who always kept a Bhagawat Gita by his side. He was secular to the core. He was a thorough professional, never showed bias, treated everyone fairly, and never compromised to go up the ladder. Above all, Radha Vinod Raju, the first head of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) who died Thursday, was an excellent human being. 


I had the privilege of knowing Raju and his family intimately.

I came to know Raju when he headed the team that investigated Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. In that capacity, he literally chased - in Bollywood style, using every means of transport including helicopters - every suspect on the run in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere.

'There were times,' he once told me in Srinagar, 'when we were up all through the night. We would net one chap but another would slip away. We wouldn't rest till we caught the guys we wanted. Before it all got over, the LTTE realised it was facing an unbeatable foe in the CBI.'

By the time the hunt and the trial proved the involvement of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Gandhi's killing, Raju became a virtual walking encyclopedia on the LTTE and its now dead chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

He could recall exact words of each and every comment the LTTE and any of its members, senior or junior, had ever made on India, Gandhi, Indian politicians and the costly Indian military adventure in Sri Lanka in 1987-90.

He remembered accurately even titles and page numbers of LTTE publications and duration of LTTE videos. 'He is consumed by the LTTE!' his wife remarked at their house.

Raju would proudly recall that it was he who signed the Indian document urging Sri Lanka to extradite Prabhakaran.

But unlike many in his tribe, Raju never let any of his professional successes go to his head. In some ways, he was a spiritual person, one without ego. He was humble to the core and married to upright values.

A Konkani Malayali who was at equal ease in English, Hindi, Urdu, Tamil and Malayalam besides Konkani, Raju began his career in a bank where he met his future wife, Achamma, a Syrian Christian.

He was a devoted husband and he doted on his daughters Renu and Sindhu and grandchildren.

He joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1975. After earning laurels in Kerala as a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer, he moved to Jammu and Kashmir, to whose cadre he belonged.

There he held several senior posts from the time militancy erupted. In the years he served in the Kashmir Valley, he gained the reputation as an officer who never discriminated on the basis of religion or community. He was spotlessly clean.

I sat unobtrusively in his Srinagar office when he chided a officer for seeking funds to increase the height of his house boundary wall. 'This is unacceptable,' Raju said. 'We officers can't be seen to be living in forts when people are asked to fight militancy.'

On another occasion, he told a young police officer: 'Great work! But do not wait for the terrorists to come. Find out where they are and hit them!'

He was very proud of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and did not take kindly to attempts, including by the army, to run it down. 'But for the Kashmir Police,' he told me, 'militancy can never be controlled.'

Although he was otherwise low profile and also very considerate to everyone, including young scholars who sought him on Kashmir and LTTE affairs, he could be tough if the situation demanded. He never courted any controversy and spoke to the media on a need-to-know basis.

He shunned VIPs outside of official duty.

After retiring as the first head of NIA, Raju devoted plenty of time to writing and lecturing on security affairs.

He was a voracious reader too. The government consulted him regularly on security issues. During the end, Raju despaired that Indian leaders were not uniting on matters of security and strategic affairs.

Only in May the Central Vigilance Commission made him a member of its board to help crack cases of fraud. But God, in His wisdom, had other plans for Raju.

(M.R. Narayan Swamy is Executive Editor at IANS. He can be contacted at narayan.swamy@ians.in) (IANS)