General (retd) VK Singh's (right) involvement in politics has made him a political target. His enemies are using the messy demise of TSD and allegations of political payoffs against him.
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General (retd) VK Singh, India's Chief of Army Staff until 2012. He also presided over an Indian "cover action" and "special operations" unit given the innocuous title "Technical Services Division (TSD)". TSD has since been disbanded.
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From on US website IntelNews September 24, 2013, http://intelnews.org/2013/09/24/01-1346/
"India disbands spy unit that conducted covert operations abroad"
A controversial military intelligence unit that conducted at least eight covert operations in foreign countries between 2008 and 2012 has been disbanded by the government of India.
The country’s Ministry of Defense authorized the establishment of the unit in late 2008, following the Mumbai attacks, which killed over 150 and injured nearly 600 people. The attacks, which lasted for almost four days, involved a dozen coordinated bombing attacks and shooting incidents in India’s largest urban center, carried out by Pakistani nationalists.
The covert-action unit was named Technical Services Division (TSD) and led by retired General VK Singh, who served as the Indian Army’s Chief of Staff from 2010 to 2012. According to the media, http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/23-Sep-2013/indian-army-spooks-carried-out-covert-operations-in-Pakistan the TSD was approved by a host of senior Indian government officials, including Lieutenant General RK Loomba, Director General of India’s Military Intelligence.
The TSD was tasked with “planning and executing special operations inside depth areas of countries of interest” to India. It was also tasked with “countering enemy efforts within the country by effective covert means”.
Most of its “special operations” on foreign soil are said to have been conducted inside Pakistan, in an effort to combat what the Indian government views as “state-sponsored terrorism” by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI). Its main tactical mission centered on targeting Hafiz Saeed, the leader of Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, said to have been behind the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
But the TSD has now been disbanded following revelations that it used its mandate to spy on Indian politicians in New Delhi and the Indian province of Kashmir, whose political views on India’s relations with Pakistan were seen as too conciliatory.
Some press reports http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Secret-military-intelligence-unit-ran-8-covert-operations-abroad/articleshow/22955169.cms suggest that communications interception equipment purchased [by TSD] from a company headquartered in Singapore, which were intended for use in Pakistan, were in fact directed against the domestic communications of Indian politicians. There are also allegations that funds provided to the TSD by the Indian military “never reached the intended beneficiaries”. An Indian government spokesperson told The Hindustan Times newspaper that “the unit has now been disbanded” pending an official investigation into allegations of corruption."
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