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The agency more and more fine-tuned theirtrade-craft by adopting still more rigorous systemof recruitment and screening of the sources andkeeping them under deep cover. 33 Armed withwide knowledge about the terrorists and theiroutfits, they acquired the ability to influence thegroups and even engineer a split in the group.Thus, the agencies emerged not only as the mostpowerful instruments against the undergroundmovement, but also as advisors to theGovernment in formulating the policy towardsthe revolutionary movement, in particular andthe political movement, in general.The growing influence of the Intelligence andthe Police on the formulation of the Governmentpolicy was criticized not only at the political levelin England but also in the bureaucratic circles, forturning India into a “Police state”. In January,1918,Secretary of State Montague wrote to ViceroyChelmsford, “I have an uneasy feeling that theCID is being used not merely as a great detectiveagency, but as an instrument of Government: thatits activities are too widespread; that it is growingtoo rapidly; that it is convenient but dangerousto govern by means of your police.” Among theIndians, the only significant voice of protest camefrom Rabindranath Tagore, who in 1917 madea scathing criticism of the Government, policeand intelligence in an article, “The Small and theGreat” 34 , read out to hundreds of people beforepublication.The Government’s decision to enact a newlegislation (Rowlatt Act), to take the place of theDefense of India Act,1915, which would lapseafter the World War, was the result of persistentprodding by the Central Intelligence and theIntelligence Branch, Bengal. Two intelligenceofficers namely J.C.Ker, Personal Assistant tothe Director of Central Criminal Intelligence33 Several European and Indian officers contributed significantlyto the development of the ‘craft of intelligence’ in BengalIntelligence Branch. Similarly in the central IntelligenceH.A.Stuart, Charles R. Cleveland, David Petrie, GodfreyDenham, Horace Williamson were some of the pioneers ablyassisted by the Indian officers.34 Tagore wrote,”What kind of statesmanship was this whichcan afford to hand over such youths and boys to the tendermercies of the secret service? And what makes the calamitygreater is that any tender shoot once bitten by the policethrives no longer, and will bear neither flower nor fruit, forthere is poison in their touch.”and Charles Tegart, DIG of Bengal IntelligenceBranch had assisted the Rowlatt Committee fromthe preliminary stage of their investigation tothe drafting of the Bill. The Report and the Billevidently reflected the attitude of the Police andIntelligence to the terrorist movement in thecountry. But, by 1919, public resentment wasso strong against repressive measures that theGovernment had to permanently shelve the Act.The intelligence failed to gauge the depth of publicresentment and the magnitude of the protest,which eventually resulted in the Jallianwalla BaghMassacre in April, 1919. The Indian nationalistmovement and the colonial government hadreached a point of no compromise.5. IN THE TRAIL OF THEREVOLUTIONARIES: INDIANINTELLIGENCE ABROADDuring the War years (1914-1918), the Indianintelligence operatives went to three continentsof Asia, Europe and America following therevolutionary terrorists. As early as in 1908,Stevenson-Moore, Director of Central Intelligencewrote to the Government, “it is quite impossiblefor a group of separate Provincial Secret Service todeal adequately with political conditions of suchextent and character that prevail in India. Thechief centres of the Indian political movementare Calcutta, Lahore, Poona, New York, Paris andperhaps Japan. The chief agitators in these placesare in close connection with each other and thenecessity of secret agents in America and Londonhas recently been brought to notice in lettersfrom London and Dublin.” 35 In pursuit of them,the Central Intelligence sent its operatives to allthese countries. The British had the advantageof unchallenged supremacy on the high seas,colonies in all parts of the globe and aboveall, their expertise in interception, in breakingcodes and recruiting sources and informers,in building up a network for information evenin the countries where they had little politicalauthority or influence. The Indian intelligence,however, aimed at monitoring the activities ofthe revolutionaries and subverting their plans inall the three continents of Europe, America andSouth East Asia.35 Note by Stevenson-Moore dated13th May 1908. Quoted byPopplewell:op. cit, P.70The Indian Police Journal, October - December, 2012, Special Issue 17