The functioning of  country’s external intelligence  Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) is under government’s scanner with a move afoot to make it “accountable” for its expenditure and also for its performance in its allotted “secret task”.

Facing charges of irregularities, the government had decided to have a review of its operations with a former special secretary with the R&AW to look into the cases of irregularities in purchases of communication equipments. The former official is to give his report to the National Security Advisor M K Narayanan who has initiated “the clean up move”.

According to sources, the step is being taken in consultations with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is understood to have expressed “unhappiness” for the agency coming into the public gaze for all the wrong reasons.

The agency which is, as yet, completely autonomous with no “questions asked” about its operations and the expenditure involved is now expected to be made answerable to the government with its “unaccounted expenditure” and is likely to be brought under official auditing, they said.

Surprise defection
The agency which had faced embarrassment for the “surprise defection” of one of its top sleuth Rabinder Singh to the USA in 2004, has also been bogged down with charges of groupism and favouritism, increasing ego clashes between cadre officers and the IPS officers on deputations.

The latest trigger for the probe into the intelligence agencies has been provided by the “revelations” made by Maj. Gen (retd) V K Singh , a former R&AW officer, who has accused top agency officials of corruption in the purchase of 27 antennas between 2000 to 2002 from Germany by jacking up their prices by as much as seven times from the original quotations. He has also accused irregularities by R&AW in the purchase of equipments required by  the Special Protection Group (SPG).

CBI probe
The serious allegations of the former R&AW officer has prompted the government to sit up and order a CBI investigations with Singh also being  questioned under Officials Secrets Act for endangering “national security.” Singh has named senior R&AW and officials of Cabinet Secretariat allegedly involved in the purchase of  hi-tech antennas.