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Police - Intelligence InterfaceShri Julio Ribeiro, IPS (Retd.)My last official interface with the IntelligenceBureau was in August 1992, when I was warned ofan assassination attempt by Khalistani terrorists. Ireceived a letter in Bucharest, capital of Romania,where I was serving as Ambassador of ourcountry. I immediately intimated the RomanianForeign Ministry and was provided security. Thatsaved my life because fifteen days later, whenmy wife and I were strolling down the HerestrauBoulevard in Bucharest, a car screeched to a haltabout fifty meters from us. Four men jumped outof the car, while two stood on guard besides theircar, the other two chased me firing all the timewith their AK47.The Romanian security which was following meat a short distance spoke to a colleague on theirwireless handsets and he rushed to the spot inhis car, shot two of the assailants and capturedone. Only one got away. I received a bullet onmy back and was removed to hospital for surgerywhich involved reconstruction of the urethra,severely damaged by that single bullet. If it wasnot for the lB’s warning, I may not have beenalive today! The lB had received inputs fromRAW as mentioned in the book “The Kaoboys ofR&AW” by a former RAW officer B. Raman. Butmy interaction was with the lB, and I am eternallygrateful to that organization for the gift of life. Ithas been twenty years now since that secondassassination attempt.My very first introduction to the lB beganin the Police Academy at Mount Abu. Four ofmy batch mates, R. Govind Rajan (father of theinternationally acclaimed Economist, RaghuramRajan), Anant Kumar Verma, Hari Ananda Barariand Ram Kishan Khandelwal were earmarked forthe Intelligence Bureau because of their sheerbrainpower. Personally, I was quite happy toserve in uniform as it suited my temperamentand my penchant to interact with people inneed of help. But I certainly admired and lookedup to those four colleagues whose intelligencequotient was far superior to mine. They workedquietly, behind the scenes all their working life,unknown and unsung, wrestling incessantly withfacts, figures and information, analyzing the samewith their sharp minds.Hari Ananda Barari was the Director, lB when Iwas Special Secretary in the Ministry of HomeAffairs. We were in close touch then. One of thejobs entrusted to us by the Government was toselect a capable officer to serve as DGP Punjab,in the background of the terrorism unleashedby Khalistani elements. We pored over the listof IPS officers who could be considered andshort listed some names. These were discussedwith the Minister of State for Home, ArunNehru who in turn consulted Mr. Barnala, ChiefMinister of Punjab. Ultimately, they hit on onename. I was entrusted to sound this officer whounceremoniously turned down the assignment,angering Arun Nehru considerably. The endresult was that I was sent in his place!On two occasions, Barari arrived at myresidence in the wee hours of the morning,woke me up from my deep slumber, literallybundled me into his car and drove to ArunNehru’s residence to confabulate with himon matters that needed urgent attention. Suchnocturnal meetings were a part of the HomeMinistry’s daily existence. I never really gotused to them. I wondered how the DIB couldkeep awake well after the city retired for thenight, on almost a daily basis. Later, duringmy stay in Punjab, when I was Advisor to itsGovernor, Barari was appointed Governor ofHaryana, and since we were batch mates, I wasa frequent visitor to Haryana’s Raj Bhavan. Ipresume he was able to catch up on his sleepin the Governor’s Residence!The Indian Police Journal, October - December, 2012, Special Issue 79