By Rajan Narayan

THE husband of Pooja Sharma of the Assagao demolition case is a member of the Research & Analysis Wing, the super-secret spy agency of the government of India. RAW is the Indian equivalent of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States, the M16 of the UK and the KGB of the Soviet Union.
RAW is a very high-profile overseas intelligence agency. The members of RAW are posted at Indian embassy and Indian High Commission offices abroad. RAW is primarily India’s overseas spy agency. Like its counterparts the CIA and the KGB, RAW agents have the license to kill. They have much more power and authority than the police or other agencies of the government like the Intelligence Bureau, the Central Bureau of Investigations or the Enforcement Directorate.
It is widely suspected that the alleged murder of a Sikh nationalist in Canada was the work of RAW. Similarly, RAW agents in the United States are reported to be responsible for the attempt to murder Gurpatwant Singh Panum, the Sikh nationalist in the US. Both Canada and the United States have filed cases against Indian government for the killing of Sikh nationalist citizens of their countries.
It has believed that the idea for setting up RAW came in the run up to the Bangladesh war in 1971. Ahead of the liberation of Bangladesh by the Indian armed forces, the Indian Intelligence Bureau had started covert operations against East Pakistan in 1970. At the time of partition the Muslim majority areas of Punjab and Bengal were transferred to Pakistan. If you look at a map of India and Pakistan you will find that west Pakistan is north of Punjab and east Pakistan is adjacent to the Indian state of West Bengal.
The late Shaikh Mujibur Rahman had won the elections in East Pakistan. The Pakistani regime led by Ayub Khan refused to hand over power to Mujibur Rahman. To help Mujibur Rahman India created a guerrilla force called Mukti Bahini. The Mukti Bahini consisted of regular Indian soldiers coordinated by the Intelligence Bureau. The impression was created that there was a massive internal revolt against the Pakistani government in East Pakistan which was formally East Bengal.
Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian troops to support Mujibur Rahman for the liberation of East Pakistan. East Pakistan surrendered and the country declared itself independent as Bangladesh. We are mentioning a few details and the history of the formation of Bangladesh because the country is again in the news. Bangladesh’s popular president Mujibur Rahman was assassinated on August 15, 1975 at Dacca.
Now again Bangladesh is currently facing a huge agitation consequent on the present president Mohammed Shahabuddim ordering 50% reservation in government jobs to veterans of the 1971 War of Liberation. The Bangaldesh government climbed down and limited the reservation to 5%.
The reason why there is so much secrecy over disclosing the identity and the position occupied by Pooja Sharma’s husband is because he enjoys a top RAW intelligence post. The members of RAW who are posted abroad have been conferred diplomatic status. All diplomates are protected by the Bern Convention against arrest in the foreign countries to which they are posted.
This is why Canada and US have not been able to take action against members of the Research & Analysis Wing of the government of India. When Pooja Sharma was asked to surrender her passport she revealed that her husband and family had a diplomatic passport. That her husband’s passport was in the possession of the External Affairs Ministry. The name and details of Pooja’s RAW husband has been protected in the name of national security.
Incidentally, Pooja Sharma was granted interim bail against arrest by the Goa Bench of the Bombay High Court. One of the conditions for granting a bail was that Pooja and her husband had to surrender their passport. Pooja was also asked to report to the Goa police on Monday, July 22, 2024.
All through the controversial and blatant demolition of the home of the tenant in Assagao, there was no mention of the Pooja Sharma’s husband. The impression was created that it was Pooja Sharma who bought the property from Chris Pinto of Assagao. We understand that it is Pooja Sharma who signed the sale deed for the property. In the normal course mutation of the property which had changed hands takes a long period of time. In the case of Pooja Sharma’s property apparently the mutation was done by the Panchayat within 24 hours. It has been established that Pooja Sharma did send notice to the tenant as required under the Mundkar Act of 1975.
The legal step Pooja could have taken is to appeal to the deputy collector to demolish the encroachment. Instead, Pooja took the law into her own hands and hired so called real estate goonda Arshad Khan to demolish the structure. Arshad in turn went to the site with male and female bouncers.
The DGP Jaspal Singh, who since this episode backfired has been transferred, reportedly was under instructions to expedite the demolition. When the local police went to stop the legal demolition the DG asked them not to interfere. The DG is reported to have shouted at the Anjuna police inspector for interfering with the demolition. The police inspector of Anjuna in a report to the Chief Secretary exposed the interference of the DGP Jaspal Singh.
Jaspal Singh was under pressure because the husband of Pooja was very senior to him. Indeed, there is a reason to suspect that the secrecy around Pooja’s husband was because of his association with RAW. Unfortunately for Pooja Sharma there was a public uproar over the illegal demolition.
This forced Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant to take action. Pooja’s agent Arshad and the bouncers were arrested but later released from jail. Pooja refused to respond to two summons issued by the Goa police. Pooja’s application for bail was refused by the north Goa district judge Irshad Agha. The High Court however granted anticipatory bail and protection against arrest to Pooja Sharma. The Assagao demolition case dramatizes the craze among heavyweights from Delhi and Mumbai for property in Goa.
The latest area is the still quite thickly forested Assagao village which is considered the valley of flowers. It is a small village which escaped “development” till very recently when rich Delhites discovered it. In the last few years all the old traditional houses in Assagao have been sold to developers from Delhi to Mumbai. Not only have the homes been taken over, Assagao itself is beginning to look like an overdeveloped shopping village mall boasting of some of the best premium class eateries in Goa offering world class cuisine. The South Indian restaurant Gun Powder (named after the spicy chutney powder of south India which accompanies a dish of idli) was one of the first to discover the potential of Assagao as a conducive eating out place. Part of the attraction of Assagao that it is very close to Anjuna and Vagator where so many foreign tourists and Indian tourists come looking for exciting adventure.
Within the last five years Assagao has been converted to a Gurgaon which is an upper crust Delhi suburb. Assagao has become a high society northern enclave with its old time Goan residents being more or less marginalized.