Keep an eye on him. I want to know who he is hobnobbing with

In the hustle and bustle of a political party office in the capital, Rahul Roy Gupta, 32, sits at his desk at the front office, attending to visitors.

Nobody has a clue that Gupta is not a party worker, but an undercover agent recruited by a rival political party. His job is to see whether any members of his client party are trying to defect. “It feels good working for the country, in search of truth that will protect my client,” says the mild-mannered man who assumes a different name and identity for each assignment.

This election, business for the private eye has been brisk. “Every political party has approached our member companies, giving rise to good business,” says Colonel (Retd) Jagat Raj Trikha, executive director, the Central Association of Private Security Industry (Capsi) and the Association of Private Detectives of India (Apdi).

Insiders say the strength of the existing detective groups is just not enough to meet the demand for private eyes during the polls. “Only 20 per cent of the actual demand for detective agencies is met,” says Kunwar Vikram Singh, chairman of Capsi and Apdi. The mainstay of his detective agency, Lancers Network Ltd, in Delhi, has been political intelligence ever since he discovered the scope for it some seven or eight years ago. “India remains in election mode all round the year,” he laughs.

The detectives don’t like to spell out the details of their assignments. Sniffing out likely defectors is just one of the jobs they do. Some keep dossiers on politicians for their rivals. Others are asked to look at a candidate’s electoral prospects.

And, as the detectives stress, there is no dearth of work. About 12 years ago, V.M. Pandit, a retired CBI officer and now head of the Confederation of Best Investigators, Delhi, was assigned to protect the interests of two political candidates. This election, he is dealing with 12 politicians.

Experts say the next elections will see the need for 1.5 lakh detectives. Currently, there are an estimated 15,000 private detectives in the country, besides 400 private detective agencies, says Singh. “We also expect the Election Commission to hire private detectives next elections, as the number of observers for constituencies won’t be enough,” he adds.

Utpal Chaudhary, proprietor of the Mumbai-based Lotus Detective Agency, says 160 of his detectives — 20 of them women — are on election-related assignments. They are snooping around for 32 men and eight women candidates in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

There was a time when political parties relied on internal moles for information about their candidates and those of rival parties. Parties continue to gather information from within, as spokespersons Nitin Gadkari of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Kripa Shankar Singh of the Congress stress. The two spokespersons, however, deny that their parties have hired private detectives.

But the detectives say there has been a growing demand for professional help. “The credibility of information gathering at the village level has taken a beating,” says Vikram Singh.

Pandit adds that cash-rich politicians now have enough funds to carry on parallel investigations. “They do not have to account for the money spent on this. This money is not from the party exchequer,” says Pandit. While a single candidate hiring the services of a detective agency will pay between Rs 1-1.5 lakh for a month’s work, the sum could be much higher if recruited by the party high command, he adds.

The professionals, in any case, do a better job of spying. Detectives keep an eye on disgruntled party men, especially those not given a ticket for the election. But they are not the only source of trouble. “Sometimes members of a candidate’s close group leak out vital information to rival parties,” says Ajit Singh, managing director (MD), Hatfield Detectives Pvt Ltd, Delhi. Ajit Singh says five political candidates in Delhi, Rajasthan and Maharashtra have sought his services for the elections.

When Gupta sniffs out a potential defector, he simply informs the party that has recruited him. “The person under watch has no idea that he had been spied upon,” says Gupta.

But today a detective’s work has also expanded beyond watching out for dissidents. All that Pandit did 12 years ago was to track down dissidents and their “dirty games” in the Raipur constituency of Madhya Pradesh. These days, he predicts the results of the 15th Lok Sabha elections.

However, Pandit’s real job will begin only when the results come in. “We will then have to keep tabs on the double games that parties play, find out which regional party is being wooed by whom and keep track of secret meetings,” he says.

When candidates are seen to be potentially powerful, rival candidates expect detective agencies to prepare a dossier on them, complete with personal relationships and affairs with starlets or Bollywood actors.

To procure sensitive information, hidden cameras are often used. Some agencies like to depute their women agents for such assignments. “Women detectives get information much faster than their male counterparts, as they keep a low profile and do not invite suspicion,” says Sanjeev Deswal, managing director, Aider Detectives Pvt Ltd, Delhi.

To win the confidence of women party workers, a woman detective gains entry into a party as an activist. Soon she starts going to restaurants or gyms frequented by senior women party workers and builds up a rapport, says Nitu Deswal, director of Aider Detectives.

But there are always some nervous moments. “If a detective’s purse is attractive, there is the fear that some woman would like to examine it — and discover her hidden camera,” says Nitu Deswal. If she lands in trouble, there is generally a male detective she can turn to. “He follows her and gives her feedback on her strategies.”

Ritu is one such detective in Delhi who has been hanging around party offices in search of information. “As a detective I have to think on my feet to avoid being caught,” she says. Ritu and four other women moles have to show a real dedication to party work to ward off suspicion. “But the real party workers are so involved in their work that they don’t bother too much to find out about me,” says Ritu.

Most succeed in their missions — though a few, no doubt, come back empty handed. But then, as the experts say, there are moles and there are moles. “A mole on the face is a beauty spot, but when a mole gets discoloured it can also turn cancerous and provide false information about the candidate —which happens in 25-40 per cent of cases,” says Pandit.

What next — a mole to keep an eye on moles?