Remembering RN Kao, India’s legendary spymaster

RN Kao was a close adviser and security chief to three Indian Prime Ministers.

Rameshwar Nath Kao, the legendary spy master of India, was born on May 10 in 1918. As we pay tribute to the greatest spy that India ever had, here is a look at his life.

RN Kao was the founder-chief of the Research and Analysis Wing or R&AW. (Pic: Sourced)

Kao founded India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) in the 1960s.

He and his officers under him played a vital role in merger of Sikkim in India.

Ramji Kao straddled the world of secret intelligence during India’s formative years as a nation. He was deputed to the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in 1947 and trained under the watchful eyes of the legendary Bhola Nath Mullick.

He handled some of the legendary cases, like the ‘Kashmir Princess’ probe in the mid-1950s and contributed to the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971.

He was a close adviser and security chief to three Indian Prime Ministers, and was one of the founding fathers of the Directorate General of Security (DGS) after India’s conflict with China in 1962.

But being a spymaster was not the only quality that Kao possessed. He was also a sculptor, according to a book. He also mentored two generations of R&AW spies. The team was called ‘Kao-boys’.

A lesser known fact about Kao is that he had recorded his past events in a tape recorder and wanted them released to the public after his death.