Speaking at the convocation of the IIT Roorkee, Doval described himself as a young IPS officer “in his twenties” who was new to intelligence work when he was posted to Sikkim.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval today recalled a tense episode from his early intelligence career when a team operating along the Sikkim-China border failed to return as scheduled, leaving him worried about the fate of its members and convinced that his own professional career was over.
Speaking at the convocation of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, Doval described himself as a young Indian Police Service (IPS) officer “in his twenties” who was new to intelligence work when he was posted to Sikkim during the territory’s transition into the Indian Union. His responsibilities included overseeing intelligence operations in the border areas and monitoring the movements and activities of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“I was a young IPS officer, new to the intelligence profession. I was in my 20s, and I was posted as in charge of intelligence in Sikkim. That was not a part of India at that time. It was becoming part of India. I was part of that process where the merger was taking place. But my responsibility also included looking after the border areas and collecting intelligence about the movement of the PLA, activities of the Chinese Army,” Doval said at IIT Roorkee.
Sikkim became India’s 22nd state in 1975. For centuries, Sikkim was ruled by the Namgyal dynasty, whose monarchs were known as Chogyals, a title often translated as “God-Kings”.
According to Doval, an intelligence team dispatched across the border failed to return within the expected timeframe. Days turned into weeks, and Doval said he was left struggling.
