New Delhi: The shadowy Special Frontier Forces (SFF) or ‘Establishment-22’ is one of India’s best kept state secrets. But the veil of secrecy over the SFF is being gradually lifted after an operation on August 29-30 near the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China saw the death of one SFF officer.
Raised in 1962 with the mandate of conducting special commando operations behind Chinese lines, the Chakrata-headquartered SFF—known to be experts in high-altitude warfare—has been part of many of India’s military and internal security conflicts as well as an active participant in many top-secret operations. But its work remained shielded from the public eye.
One among such missions was an ambitious operation planned by the CIA to plant a monitoring device near the 7,816 metres high Nanda Devi peak, India’s second-highest peak after the Kanchenjunga.
A glimpse of Nanda Devi peak Taking the western world by surprise, China had test-exploded a nuclear bomb in the western province of Xinjiang in 1964.
Till then the west believed China was far off from obtaining nuclear technology.
The CIA-ideated mission was to position a device near the Nanda Devi peak to detect more Chinese nuclear tests if any.
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The Intelligence Bureau (IB)—under which the SFF operated then—set up a team under the leadership of legendary mountaineer Captain MS Kohli.
“I was in the ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) but my services were used by sister organizations too including the IB,” Capt Kohli, now 89 years old, told ETV Bharat.
“We were a big team including Americans. But the main leaders were I, Sonam Gyatso, Harish Rawat, GS Pangu, Sonam Wangyal. Many were from the newly-raised force the SFF or Establishment-22.”
Many of the team members were trained in a CIA facility at Mount McKinley in Alaska.
“In the first climb in October 1965, we could only reach Camp 4 which was about 150-200 feet below the Nanda Devi summit. We had to abort the mission due to bad weather but decided to hide the device in a small cave so that we could retrieve it whenever our next mission would take place. But when our team reached the spot again in 1966, the device was missing,” said Capt Kohli.
“The Americans told us that we have to find the device by hook or by crook as it had radioactive capsules and would endanger lives. The search operation continued for three years.”
Basically, the device had a sensor and a six-foot-tall antenna to collect data from the Chinese test site.
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The sensor was powered by a generator which converted radioactive heat into electricity. The generator had plutonium fuel capsules placed in its core. An estimated five kilograms of plutonium 238 and 239 was stored in the generator to power the sensor.
Many believe that as plutonium fuel capsules emit warmth, it may have melted its way into the snow, although many in the US through an Indian team may have secretly spirited away the device.
“My most abiding memory of those times is the hunt for the lost generator for three years from 1965 to 1968. That was the most difficult and toughest time of my life. I had a scientist, one Mr Kapoor (I don’t remember his full name). We tested the waters of the Rishi Ganges every day from 1966 onwards to check for levels of radioactivity,” said Capt Kohli.
Rishi Ganga drains the glacier.
“In 1967, the US brought another device and we placed it beneath the dome of the Nanda Devi summit in another mission,” the legendary mountaineer added.
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